Sony Pictures Entertainment Third-Quarter Profits Dip 21% To $223M; Corporate Results Jump On Games & Music

Third-quarter profits at Sony Pictures Entertainment slid to $223 million for the three months ended December 31, 2024. That’s a nearly 21% decrease on a U.S. dollar basis versus the similar quarter the previous year. Adjusted OIBDA (Operating Income Before Depreciation and Amortization) came in at $308 million (-16.5%). Sales, however, were up 6% compared to last year, landing at $2.619 billion. Compared to last quarter, operating income was up 80%.

Announcing results from Tokyo, Sony Corp had strong overall news with consolidated sales for the media and electronics giant up 18% versus last year, to 4,409.6 billion yen ($28.6 billion). Consolidated operating income increased 1% to 469.3 billion yen ($3.05 billion) aided by strength in the Games and Music divisions (more below).

In the Pictures segment, Sony Corp attributed the year-on-year swings in part to higher revenues from theatrical releases in the current fiscal year versus 2023. Sony’s biggest title during the third quarter of 2024 was Venom: The Last Dance which hit cinemas in late October and grossed $478 million globally.

There was also positive impact on revenues from the acquisition of Alamo Drafthouse Cinema and subscriber growth at Crunchyroll. Those were offset slightly by lower series deliveries in Television Productions and lower licensing revenues from catalog product in Motion Pictures. The drag on operating income was a result of higher marketing costs for theatrical releases, Sony said.

Coming up this quarter, theatrical releases include Paddington in Peru which the studio has already been rolling out overseas (to $19 million as of last Sunday) and which releases domestically this week.  

On an earnings call, Sony said it expects “minor impact” from the recent L.A. fires, but that there is some lingering impact on the film side from the 2023 strikes while the production of new television shows has “almost stabilized.”

It also touted the recent capital tie-up with Japanese media group Kadokawa, saying the leadership of both companies is “committed to promoting collaboration” across the entertainment sectors.

The full-year forecast in the Pictures segment remains unchanged from November.

As for Games & Network Services, profits rose 37% to 118.1 billion yen ($766.3 million). Sony attributed this to the impact of increases in sales from network services, non-first-party game software titles and a decrease in losses from hardware.

In Music, earnings jumped 28% to 97.4 billion yen ($631 million). That was primarily due to the impact of an increase in sales, higher revenues from streaming services in Recorded Music and Music Publishing and foreign exchange rates.

Sony hiked its overall full-year sales forecast to 13.2 trillion yen ($85.6 billion), up 4% on a yen basis; and increased the operating income outlook 2% to 1.335 trillion yen ($8.7 billion).