UPDATED: Sony Pictures Entertainment saw a 1% gain in profits for the quarter ended September 30 versus the similar period last year. Coming in at $204 million, operating income was 77% above the first quarter of 2023.
Second quarter profits in the division were boosted by an increase in sales which saw a 13.4% hike versus Q2 2022 to $2.767 billion, derived from an increase in series deliveries. On the flip side, there were lower revenues from television and digital streaming service licensing given last year’s comparable quarter benefitted from the contribution of several franchise films released theatrically in 2021.
Adjusted OIBDA (Operating Income Before Depreciation and Amortization) for the Pictures segment was even at $293 million.
Movies released in the quarter ended September 30 include Insidious: The Red Door ($188 million worldwide), The Equalizer 3 ($157 million worldwide), Gran Truismo: Based on a True Story ($114 million global) and Dumb Money ($6 million domestic).
Reporting second quarter earnings from Tokyo this morning, Sony Corp said it was slightly revising the Pictures forecast for the full fiscal year 2023 with profits projected at $761.6 million, a 1% decrease compared to the forecast put forth in August. This is mainly attributable to the impact of the Hollywood strikes on release dates. Sony also mentioned “restrictions on promotional activities” in its note, however with the actors strike now resolved that seems moot going forward. Delays in series deliveries were also cited as a cause for the downward shift.
Presenting results, Sony commented that even with the resolution to the labor strife, “it will take time for business activities to normalize” and that this has been accounted for in forecasts. In order to reduce impact, the studio plans “to engage in cost control and other measures.”
Coming in the third quarter from the studio are such titles as Journey to Bethlehem with Antonio Banderas; Thanksgiving starring Patrick Dempsey; Ridley Scott’s Napoleon led by Joaquin Phoenix; and romantic comedy Anyone But You with Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell.
Other Q2 highlights were in Games and Network Services with a 16% jump in profits to 48.9 billion yen thanks to an increase in sales of non-first-party titles. Sony also revealed that its PlayStation 5 game Spider-Man 2 had sold more than five million units in its first 11 days.
Though overall sales were up for the media and electronics giant, operating income was down 29% to $1.74 billion, hit by softer performance in the Imaging and Financial Services divisions. The profits forecast remains unchanged for fiscal year 2023.
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Source: DLine
