Sony Pictures Q2 Operating Income Jumps 525 Percent to $581 Million on 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day' Box Office

Sony Pictures Entertainment posted a dramatic profit surge for its fiscal second quarter, the three months ending September 30, 2026, with operating income soaring 525 percent to $581 million compared to the same period a year earlier. The company credited the runaway global box office performance of Spider-Man: Brand New Day as the primary driver, with overall quarterly sales climbing 37 percent year over year to $3.23 billion.

Sony Pictures Entertainment encompasses the company's motion pictures division, television productions and media networks. Within the motion pictures unit, which covers theatrical releases, home entertainment and television and streaming licensing, revenue jumped 155 percent year over year to $1.82 billion. Alongside the Spider-Man film, the quarter benefited from the releases of Evil Dead Burn, for which Sony held international rights only, Insidious: Out of the Further and Resident Evil. Theatrical revenue alone skyrocketed 1,020 percent in the period.

The outlook for the current quarter appears less favorable for the studio. Both The Social Reckoning and Klara and the Sun have already flopped in theaters, though Sony is pinning its hopes on Jumanji: Open World, which arrives in cinemas on Christmas Day.

The film unit's blockbuster results masked steep declines elsewhere in the entertainment business. Revenue at the television production unit fell 31 percent to $483 million, down from $701 million in the same quarter last year. The unit's streaming productions during the period included new seasons of Starz's Outlander: Blood of My Blood, Netflix's My Life with the Walter Boys, and Apple TV's Dark Matter and Star City. Broadcast fixtures Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune and their spinoffs, along with ABC's Shark Tank, also contributed revenue.

Media networks, which include television and digital channels as well as the fast growing anime streaming service Crunchyroll, saw revenue dip 2 percent to $896 million from $913 million. Sony said it ended the quarter operating 38 television channels, and disclosed that Crunchyroll had surpassed 21 million paid subscribers as of March 2026.

Sony Music Entertainment continued its strong run, with quarterly revenue rising to $3.72 billion, or 592.3 billion yen, an 11.25 percent increase from 532.4 billion yen a year ago. Michael Jackson's Thriller remained a top global seller as the afterglow of the biopic continued, making the album Sony's second best selling project of the quarter, behind ATEEZ's GOLDEN HOUR: Part.5.

Other top selling Sony Music artists in the quarter included Ella Langley with Dandelion, Bad Bunny with DEBÍ TIRAR MÁS FOTOS and Un Verano Sin Ti, SZA with SOS, Shakira with Dai Dai, Beyoncé with the B'DAY 20th ANNIVERSARY EDITION, Future with The Real Me, and Peter Peter with the Heated Rivalry soundtrack.

In gaming, the Game and Network Services unit, which covers PlayStation hardware, software and services, grew revenue 8.56 percent year over year to $7.59 billion, or 1.21 trillion yen, up from 1.11 trillion yen a year earlier. PlayStation 5 hardware sales reached 2.6 million units in the quarter, a 36.43 percent decline from the 4.09 million units sold in the prior year period. Sony is well positioned, however, to capitalize on the expected frenzy surrounding Take-Two Interactive's long awaited Grand Theft Auto VI, which is due later this year.

PlayStation Network monthly active users climbed to 127 million in the quarter, up 6.72 percent from 119 million a year earlier. Sony has previously said cumulative PlayStation 5 hardware sales reached 93.7 million units as of March 31, 2026. So far in 2026, the company's only new first party game release has been Marvel's Wolverine, which has sold 2.4 million units.