Sony Pictures Entertainment’s operating income for its fiscal first quarter (the three months ending June 30, 2026) was up 21 percent to $154 million from the comparable period a year before, with Q1 sales down 13 percent to $1.98 billion year-on-year.
SPE comprises the motion pictures division, television productions and media networks.
The motion pictures unit (which includes movie sales from theatrical, home entertainment and television/streaming) saw Q1 revenue fall 13 percent to $645 million from $742 million from a year ago, the drop attributable to lower revenues from theatrical in the period. SPE released only one theatrical movie in North America in the period, the Nate Bargatze comedy The Breadwinner. In the same period the year before SPE released four films — Until Dawn, 28 Years Later, Karate Kid: Legends and Materialists.
SPE’s overall increase in profitability for the quarter is also partly down to the decreased marketing costs due to the reduced number of theatrical releases.
SPE’s TV unit saw Q1 revenue reach $571 million, down 32 percent from $841 million in the same period a year earlier. The large drop in the TV unit’s revenue is down to the decreased delieveries of series in the period. SPE’s major streaming television productions from the period included the latest seasons of Amazon Prime Video’s The Boys, Starz’s Outlander and Apple TV’s For All Mankind and Star City. Broadcast staples Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, and their various spinoffs, as well as ABC’s Shark Tank added to the TV unit’s revenues.
Third quarter revenue from media networks (that includes TV channels and digital channels including the fast growing Crunchyroll anime streamer) was up 10 percent to $744 million from $674 million. The company revealed that it ended the period with 38 television channels and that Crunchyroll had over 21 million paid subscribers as of March 2026.
Elsewhere, Sony’s music division saw Q1 revenue jump 22 percent (557.9 billion yen from 459 billion yen for the same period a year ago). The music division saw a boost from the renewed interest in Michael Jackson’s music, coinciding with the theatrical release of the Lionsgate biopic Michael. Both Jackson’s Thriller and Bad were among the best performing albums for Sony in the period. Sony’s best-selling music artists for Q1 2026 were Michael Jackson (Thriller and Bad), Ella Langley (Dandelion and Still Hungover), Bad Bunny (DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS and Un Verano Sin Ti), Raye (THIS MUSIC MAY CONTAIN HOPE), SZA (SOS) Luke Combs (The Way I Am) and Peso Pluma and Tito Double (DINASTÍA).
First quarter revenue in the Game & Network Services unit (which includes PlayStation hardware and software sales and services income) was flat at 937.1 billion yen. PlayStation 5 hardware sales hit 1.6 million units in the period, down from the 2.5 million units shifted a year ago (down 36 percent). But looking ahead, Sony is in prime position to benefit from the likely hysteria around the release of Take-Two Interactive’s long-awaited video game Grand Theft Auto VI later this year.
PlayStation Network monthly active users hit 125 million in Q1, up from 123 million MAUs from the same period the year before. Sony also revealed that cumulative sales of PlayStation 5 hardware had hit 93.7 million as of March 31, 2026.
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