Sony’s Columbia Pictures movie studio has revealed that its European parent company booked a $24.1 million (£19.1 million) net profit in the year to March 31, 2024 thanks to its strong line up of titles including Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse and The Equalizer 3 starring Denzel Washington.
The recovery of the global box office due to the Barbenheimer phenomenon and the punching power of The Super Mario Bros. Movie also contributed to Columbia’s revenue rising 3% to $555.4 million (£440.2 million).
Nevertheless, the business tightened its belt with costs falling $31 million (£24.6 million) to $541 million (£428.8 million). This was partly because of a 2.8% fall in staff costs despite the total number of employees rising by 11 to 388. It had a magic touch.
The increase in revenue combined with the reduced costs led to the bottom line of the business improving from a $50.8 million (£40.3 million) net loss the previous year. It would have been even rosier if it weren’t for a $13.5 million (£10.7 million) foreign exchange loss taking a bit of the sparkle off the company’s 2024 profit through no fault of its own.
Columbia Pictures Corporation, the studio’s European parent, is headquartered in London and files annual financial statements. The latest set were filed yesterday and shine a spotlight on its recent performance.
The company generates revenue from distributing films and television programmes to theaters, broadcasters, retailers and online streaming platforms. Its earnings statement explains the relationship between the business areas as it states that “the gross box office revenue of films released by the company in the U.K. drives results in the theatrical division and provides a measure of how successful these titles will be in television distribution.”
The vast majority of the company’s revenue comes from TV distribution which rose by 3.4% to $382.4 million (£303.1 million) last year. However, the biggest increase was in theatrical sub-licensing which involves national distributors selling their rights to local exhibitors. Sony’s strong slate of movies fueled a staggering 46.2% increase in theatrical sub-licensing revenue to $82.6 million (£65.5 million).
It paid off for theaters as the Equalizer 3 grossed $191.1 million with around half of its takings coming from international markets. Acclaimed animated movie Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse did even better. It grossed $690.5 million with international markets generating 44.8% of the total.
Columbia’s European parent owns TV networks and production companies across the United Kingdom and Europe and as far afield as Australia and the Middle East. The filings show that Europe provides 49.3% of its revenue followed by 39.5% from the U.K. and 11.2% from the rest of the world. They add that the increase in revenue was driven by Europe as its tally rose by 13.1% to $273.7 million (£216.9 million).
Total dividends from foreign subsidiaries were up $5.4 million (£4.3 million) to $21.3 million (£16.9 million) with the biggest being $7.7 million (£6.1 million) from Sony Pictures Entertainment France. There could be more to come as the filings point out that this year “will see the release of theatrical productions, including some much anticipated titles, which are expected to generate significant revenue.” It sets the scene for what could be another blockbuster year.
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