Sony Pictures Entertainment reports second-quarter profit rises to $204 million

UPDATED: Sony Pictures Entertainment reported a 1% increase in profit in the quarter ended September 30 compared to the same period last year. With revenue of $204 million, operating income was 77% higher than in the first quarter of 2023.

The division’s second quarter profit was boosted by an increase in sales, which rose 13.4% to $2.767 billion compared to the second quarter of 2022, driven by an increase in series shipments. On the other hand, there was lower revenue from television licensing and digital streaming services, as the comparable quarter last year benefited from the contribution of several franchise films released in 2021.

Adjusted OIBDA (operating income before depreciation and amortization) for the imaging segment was $293 million.

Films released in the quarter ending September 30 include: Treacherous: the red door ($188 million worldwide), The compensation 3 ($157 million worldwide), Gran Truismo: Based on a true story ($114 million worldwide) and Stupid money ($6 million domestic).

Sony Corp reported second-quarter results from Tokyo this morning, saying it was a slight revision to Pictures’ forecast for full fiscal 2023. Expected profit is $761.6 million, down 1% from the August forecast. This is largely due to the impact of the Hollywood strikes on release dates. Sony also mentioned “restrictions on promotional activities” in its note, but with the actors’ strike now resolved, that seems unintended for the future. Delays in serial deliveries were also cited as the reason for the decline.

Presenting the results, Sony noted that even with the labor disputes resolved, “it will take some time for business operations to normalize” and that this was factored into the forecasts. To minimize the impact, the studio plans to “take cost control and other measures.”

In the third quarter, the studio will release titles such as: Journey to Bethlehem with Antonio Banderas; Thanksgiving with Patrick Dempsey; That of Ridley Scott Napoleon directed by Joaquin Phoenix; and romantic comedy Everyone but you with Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell.

Other second-quarter highlights included games and network services, which saw profit rise 16% to 48.9 billion yen thanks to a rise in sales of non-first-party titles. Sony also announced that this is its PlayStation 5 game Spider Man 2 sold more than five million copies in the first eleven days.

Although the media and electronics giant’s total revenue rose, operating profit fell 29% to $1.74 billion, driven by weaker performance in its imaging and financial services divisions. The profit forecast for the 2023 financial year remains unchanged.