Sony Pictures Entertainment reports a decline in earnings for the full year, excluding franchise film releases

Sony Pictures Entertainment reported a nearly $800 million decline in operating income for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023 due to the non-launch of a tentpole franchise.

The property of Sony Corp. The unit, which houses film, television production and broadcasting companies, reported operating income of 119.3 billion yen ($880 million), up from 217.4 billion yen ($1.67 billion) a year earlier. With no tentpole franchise set to launch in 2022, the decline was widely expected.

Revenue for the full year 2022 rose to 1.37 billion yen ($10 billion), compared with 1.24 billion yen a year earlier — an increase of 10%. However, on a US dollar basis, there was an 8% decline, with Sony noting that 2021 benefited from franchise titles Spider-Man: No Way Home And Poison: Let there be carnage.

TV licensing costs also fell, with Sony noting the lack of similar arrangements to the 2021 licensing deals His field and streaming offerings for various feature films. However, there were gains from more series deliveries and the acquisition of TV manufacturers Industrial Media and Bad Wolf.

However, anime sales rose due to the impact of the acquisition of the streaming service Crunchyroll.

The decrease in operating profit was partly due to the fact that the GSN Games business was not included in the results. Sony sold the division to Scopely in late 2021 for $1 billion. However, there was also an overall decline in sales.

Sony Corp. predicts that Sony Pictures Entertainment will post an 11% revenue increase over the next year, driven by the launch of theatrical franchises and Crunchyroll and its operations in India. Operating income is expected to be flat, with sales improving but marketing expenses rising.

Overall, Sony Corp’s revenue grew to 11.54 trillion yen ($85 billion), from 9.92 trillion yen in 2022, and operating income was flat at 1.2 trillion yen ($8.9 billion) overall. Gaming and services revenue rose sharply to 3.64 trillion yen ($27 billion) from 2.74 billion yen a year earlier, but operating income fell.