Sony Pictures Entertainment Profit Slides Down To $73M In First Quarter

Sony Pictures Entertainment posted first quarter operating incoming of $73M, down over 36% year-on-year on a U.S. dollar basis.

Revenues also slipped 7% from $2.32B to $2.17B for the three months ended June 30, 2024, despite the performances of films such as The Garfield Movie and Bad Boys: Ride or Die and growth in streaming subs.

Overall, Tokyo-based Sony pointed to a reduced number of theatrical releases and new TV season launches for the financial drops, but noted anime streamer Crunchyroll had swelled the coffers through higher paid subscriptions.

The motion pictures unit was down from $908M in revenue in Q1 2023 to $852M, with falls in the theatrical, television and streaming services units that sit within it. Adjusted OIBDA (Operating Income Before Depreciation and Amortization) was also down 13% to $179M.

Films released within the period include The Garfield Movie, which began its overseas rollout in May and has followed a staggered pattern since then, with Japan next on August 16. The animated film had grossed $251.8M worldwide as of this past Sunday. The Q1 earnings accounted for $215M of that.

Bad Boys: Ride or Die, which released in June, has been flying and was sitting at $398.2M worldwide this past Sunday, with $294M of that realized in Q1. Tarot, the Screen Gems release, added $49M to the quarter’s total.

Films releasing in the next quarter include Apple’s Fly Me to the Moon and Wolfs, Harold and the Purple Crayon and It Ends With Us. Later in the year, Sony will release the likes of Venom: The Last Dance and Kraven the Hunter.

On the TV front, the number of U.S. network series delivered during the quarter fell by four to 12 compared with 2023, though new seasons of Them and The Boys meant the number of streaming series was up by two. There were also TV and digital channel subscriber falls in EMEA, Latin America, Asia and Australia (incl India) and North America. The total was down from 702.8 million subs a year ago to 663.7 million.