Sony Pictures Entertainment reports quarterly profit drop to $115m

Sony Pictures Entertainment reported a 71% drop in quarterly profits for the first quarter of 2023 (April to June) to $115m, compared to the same period in 2022 ($394m).

The results were revealed yesterday (August 8) in Tokyo by the studio’s parent company, Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation.

Revenue in the pictures division was down 6% to $2.3 billion.

The group said the fall in the revenues was due to reduced deliveries of US TV series and lower streaming licensing revenues, coupled with higher marketing costs in support of a greater number of theatrical releases.

Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse was the best performing film released in this period, taking $591m globally since its release at the beginning of June. The Pope’s Exorcist racked up $75m, while No Hard Feelings took $40m globally.

The same period last year saw global releases of Morbius ($167m) and Father Stu ($22m).

For the full financial year, running to March 2024, Sony has reduced its sales forecast for the pictures division slightly, but kept its guidance for the division’s net profit unchanged at 120 billion yen ($838m).

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