Sony Pictures Profits Exceed $1.3 Billion in Latest Quarter

Sony Pictures Television has named kids programming vet Joe D’Ambrosia has been named EVP & General Manager of its Silvergate Media subsidiary.

Emiliano De Pablos Closing in on one of the leading voices in Caribbean cinema, Sony Pictures Television has acquired from Latido Films Latin American rights to “Hotel Coppelia,” directed by Dominican filmmaker José María Cabral.Produced by Santo Domingo-based Rafael Elías Muñoz at Lantica Media and Cabral’s outfit Tabula Rasa, “Hotel Coppelia” is a real events-inspired drama, set during the 1965 Revolution in Dominican Republic.The story focus on a forlorn band of prostitutes, forced to pick sides when the American military invades and the soldiers hole up in their seaside brothel.“It would be impossible to think of a better house to have ‘Hotel Coppelia’ seen in Latin America,” Latido Films CEO Antonio Saura told Variety about the Sony Pictures deal. “The film deals with great intelligence with important issues of the history not only of the Dominican Republic but of all the region, but seen through the eyes of unexpected protagonists, caught in events that are beyond their reach.

Sony will release it’s first movie of 2022, and second Tom Holland title after Spider-Man: No Way Home over the 4-day Presidents Day weekend, Uncharted, in what is expected to be a $70M+ haul worldwide.

Sony Pictures Classics has pushed back the release for Roger Michell’s film The Duke, starring Academy Award winners Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren, by a month—from March 25 to April 22, 2022. It will be released in theaters in New York and Los Angeles on the latter date before expanding to additional cities over the following weeks.

No Spide-Man? No Peace! At least according to director Kevin Smith, who has xpressed his vehement displeasure about the Oscar snub of Spider-Man: No Way Home from the Best Picture Oscar nominees.

Ellise Shafer The SF Studios comedy “A Man Called Otto,” starring Tom Hanks, has been acquired by Sony Pictures for $60 million.The sale marks the largest deal to date at the virtual European Film Market, surpassing Netflix’s $55 million acquisition of “The Pale Blue Eye” last year. Directed by Marc Forster, “A Man Called Otto” sparked a fierce bidding war with Sony ultimately coming out on top with the film’s worldwide rights. It will be released in theaters.Based on Fredrik Backman’s bestselling novel “A Man Called Ove,” the film tells the story of Otto (Hanks), a grumpy and strict widower who upholds the rest of his neighborhood to his staunch rules.

Cate Blanchett’s Dirty Films and Scarlett Pictures are partnering to co-produce The New Boy with Blanchett attached to star and Warwick Thornton writing and directing. Deborah Mailman and Wayne Blair join Blanchett in the ensemble, which is set to begin filming in October of this year in South Australia. Roadshow Films will be distributing for Australia and New Zealand, CAA Media Finance and UTA will be handling sales for North America, and The Veterans is on board to manage sales for the remainder of the globe. Blanchett, Andrew Upton and Georgie Pym will be producing for Dirty Films; and Kath Shelper will produce for Scarlett Pictures.

Sony Pictures Television and WarnerMedia have extended a content deal that will see the likes of Spider Man: No Way Home and Ghostbusters: Afterlife made available on HBO Max and HBO channels across Central Eastern Europe.

Naman Ramachandran Sony Pictures Television and WarnerMedia have extended their content deal across Central and Eastern Europe, which will see titles from the Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) slate of current and upcoming films shown exclusively on HBO channels and streamer HBO Max across the region.The slate includes “Spider-man: No Way Home,” “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” “Unchartered,” “Morbius,” “Happiest Season,” “The Broken Hearts Gallery,” “Monster Hunter” and “The Father.”The deal also includes titles from popular SPE franchises such as Hotel Transylvania, Spider-Man, Peter Rabbit and Jumanji and the Sony Pictures Television library of TV series titles.Countries covered under the deal are Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina and North Macedonia. HBO Max replaces HBO Go in the region on March 8.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterDisney plans to increase spending on Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution (DMED) programming by more than $1 billion this quarter versus the same period last year.For the current quarter, the company plans to up its spending on direct-to-consumer programming by between $800 million and $1 billion versus the comparable fiscal 2021 quarter, CFO Christine McCarthy said during Disney’s fiscal Q1 2022 earnings call Wednesday. On the linear network side, content spend is expected to go up by approximately $500 million.“It’s all about content, content, content,” CEO Bob Chapek said on the call, which followed Disney’s announcement that Disney Plus had reached nearly 130 million subscribers by the end of 2021.

Beginning with our review coverage all the way back to the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, through Cannes in July, Venice and Telluride in the late summer, and finally to late-breaking holiday-season releases that qualified just under the gun for Oscar eligibility, Deadline has been on the front lines of opinion for this year’s eventual 10 nominees for Oscar Best Picture.

Sony Pictures Classics has pushed back the theatrical release date for Eva Husson’s romantic drama Mothering Sunday, starring Odessa Young, by a month—from February 25 to March 25. It will open in theaters in New York and Los Angeles, on the heels of a one-week, awards-qualifying run in Los Angeles in November of 2021, before expanding to other markets over the following weeks.

EXCLUSIVE: Following the massive success of Spider-man: No Way Home, Sony is looking to to expand on its Marvel Cinematic Universe as sources tell Deadline that Dakota Johnson is in talks to star in the studio’s Madame Web movie. S.J. Clarkson is on board to direct the pic.Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless. penned the screenplay.

TOKYO -- Sony’s profit for the quarter through December edged up 11% on healthy sales from its film division, including the new Spider-Man movie, the Japanese electronics and entertainment company said Wednesday.Tokyo-based Sony Corp. recorded a 346 billion yen ($3 billion) profit for the fiscal third quarter, up from 310.7 billion yen the previous year.Quarterly sales edged up to 3 trillion yen ($26 billion) from 2.7 trillion yen.Sony said strong offerings in its music division, like the album “30" from Adele; movies like “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and licensing income from the “Seinfeld” series lifted earnings.Its imaging and sensor unit also posted solid results.In video games, sales fell short of expectations as a parts supply crunch, especially of semiconductors, dented sales of its PlayStation 5 machine, Sony said.The company's chief financial officer, Hiroki Totoki, said Sony's acquisition of Bungie Inc., known for its Halo and Destiny games, for $3.6 billion highlighted its commitment to the gaming business.The purchase includes payments to the shareholder creators at the independent studio to ensure their retention, he said.Analysts say the addition complements Sony’s strength in shooting games and will further solidify its position.But competition is heating up in the video game industry.Microsoft Corp.

Refresh for latest…: With a major assist from the phenomenal global box office performance of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Sony Pictures Entertainment has recorded a third-quarter profit of $1.314 billion, up a staggering 570% from the comparable period in 2020. Revenues saw a 122% increase to $4.063 billion versus the same quarter the previous year.

EXCLUSIVE: Sarena Khan and Andra Gordon’s Athena Pictures and Starlings Television, led by Chris Philip, have teamed with Propagate Content’s Ben Silverman to co-produce Shadowland, a female-driven wildlife crime thriller series, from Jacqui Barcos, director Darnell Martin (American Rust, The Good Lord Bird) and executive producer Peter Elkoff (Sons of Anarchy, Chance).

EXCLUSIVE: Teresa Hsiao, co-creator, executive producer and showrunner of Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens, has signed an overall deal with Sony Pictures Television to develop comedy and animation for cable streaming platforms via her Red 136 Productions.

Naman Ramachandran Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) has acquired exclusive South Asia media rights for the 2022 Asian Games taking place later this year at Hangzhou, China. SPN will have the rights to broadcast the games across its sports channels in India and the subcontinent including Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan, Bhutan and Maldives, and on streamer SonyLIV through Sept. 2023.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter“Living,” an acclaimed re-imagining of Akira Kurosawa’s classic meaning-of-life story, has been sold to Sony Pictures Classics follow its premiere at Sundance Film Festival.Sony Pictures Classics, the indie division of Sony Pictures, has acquired rights in North America, Latin America, India, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Germany, South Africa, Southeast Asia, and airlines worldwide. A release date has not been announced yet.“Living” was directed by Oliver Hermanus and written by Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro.