Entertainment

Kaz Hirai promises profitability with no specifics

by Sohrab Osati | May 26, 2017 | 0 comments

Yuri Kageyama for AP:

Sony’s leader promised a comeback for the Japanese electronics and entertainment company having its best profitability in two decades.

But he said he cannot give away details of products in the works such as those using artificial intelligence or the “internet of things,” or IoT, technology.

Yuri’s piece is titled

Sony chief promises profitability, but is short on specifics

which seems a bit disingenuous. No matter if it’s Kaz Hirai or Tim Cook taking to stage or in this case, at company HQ with reporters, I don’t know of a single CEO that’s ever going to give specifics about what’s to come. Instead, we get comments like this from Tim Cook in 2014

Dolby Vision Blu-ray discs coming from Sony Pictures soon

by Sohrab Osati | May 18, 2017 | 0 comments

A big surprise from CES 2017 was Sony’s support for Dolby Vision, a feature that was secretly built into their TVs as far back as fall of 2016 with the release of the Z9D which was then activated via a future firmware update. With the Z9D, X930/940E, and A1E supporting the format, the next obvious answer would be for Sony Pictures to support the format. Via flatpanelshd:

The first two confirmed Dolby Vision UHD Blu-ray releases are Universal’s Despicable Me 1 & 2. We are still waiting for Warner Bros and Lionsgate, which were announced as the other two launch partners by Dolby at CES, to detail their launch plans.

As for Sony Pictures:

Sony to create games for Microsoft HoloLens

by Sohrab Osati | Apr 10, 2017 | 0 comments

A bit of odd news to kick off your Monday morning. Kyle Melnick writes this for VR Scout:

the company has had to look to new platforms to extend their marketing reach even further. This apparently includes releasing an mixed reality Smurfs-themed children’s experience for the HoloLens.

Developed as part of a partnership between media agency OMD, AOL advertising content creators Partner Studio and VR production company UNIT9

Venom will not take place in MCU; singularly explains all of Sony Pictures’ woes

by Sohrab Osati | Mar 28, 2017 | 0 comments

While Disney continues to grow their stable of movies thanks to internal films alongside Pixar, LucasFilm (Star Wars & Indiana Jones), and Marvel and Universal Studios expand their franchises like the Fast & Furious saga and Jurassic World series, Sony Pictures stutters and putters. Easily the world’s best known superhero and yet after two tries at building a bigger world with The Amazing Spider-Man, Sony Pictures basically gave up on bringing Spidy to the big screen and signed a deal with Marvel to include the beloved character in the MCU – a good move on their part, might I add. Let Marvel deal with the character and Sony gets a cut. It might not be the equivalent of owning the character entirely on their own but it’s better than rebooting the character every 5 years and ultimately killing any excitement towards him.

Now to give you an idea of how far behind the pack Sony Pictures is, Ghostbusters, a film that was received with mixed reactions, was their highest grossing movie in 2016, bringing in $128 million for the studio domestically with a $911 million total gross. On the other hand, rival studios like Disney, WB, and Universal brought in $3 billion, $1.9 billion, and $1.4 billion respectively.

Sony Pictures drags down Sony Q3 FY16 earnings with profits dropping 84%

by Sohrab Osati | Feb 2, 2017 | 2 comments

Sony_Q3_FY2016_Profits_Opertaing_Income_1

(note that you can click on all charts for a much higher resolution version)

It’s been a rather tumultuous week for Sony with news coming out that Sony Pictures would be responsible for a nearly $1 billion writedown which you can see in the above profits chart. Though Sony begs to differ, I think Sony Pictures is either quietly being put up for sale or that was the result of a sale falling through which meant Sony had to balance the division out but I’ll leave that for another piece. I’ve already broken down the earnings report for two divisions:

So where does that put Sony as a whole for Q3 FY16? Profitable, but not by a lot. Jon Russell writes this for TechCrunch:

Sony Pictures cause of $1 billion writedown, but something else is at play

by Sohrab Osati | Jan 30, 2017 | 0 comments

Here is Harriet Taylor from CNBC setting the stage:

Sony shares plunged as much as 4 percent Monday morning after the company announced it will take a nearly $1 billion charge on its movie business for the fiscal third quarter.

The company took an impairment charge against goodwill of 112.1 billion yen, or $962 million. The charge comes because Sony lowered the expected profitability of its motion pictures business segment, based primarily on how the home entertainment business has performed recently.

First a few thoughts:

Holy shit
This will make for an interesting earnings report
Why is it that every time Sony comes close to having all divisions healthy, one slips and falls at the cost of $1 billion or more (look at you mobile, then camera/sensors)

So why the writedown?

Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton stepping down, joining Snapchat

by Sohrab Osati | Jan 13, 2017 | 0 comments

Not a lot of details on this story yet but Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton (pictured right) who oversees Sony Pictures among other things is stepping down to join Span Inc., the company behind Snapchat. This is a big shift for Sony as Lynton was the man with a plan to help transition Sony Pictures into a healthier state.

I’m not sure about all the dots yet but there’s been a lot of rumble around Sony Pictures as of late with the division either going under the watchful eye of Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Andrew Houseor perhaps being up for sale with CBS’s Leslie Moonves showing a lot of interest. I’m sure as the day and week progresses, we’ll find out a bit more about why Lynton decided to jump ship to a tech company though I doubt we’ll find out the real fate of Sony Pictures quite yet.

Now CBS wants to acquire Sony Pictures?

by Sohrab Osati | Dec 19, 2016 | 0 comments

Not a few days after rumors spread that Sony was looking to bring Sony Pictures under the same roof as PlayStation and there are new reports that CBS is looking to acquire the film studio. To put things into perspective, until very recently, CBS and Viacom were negotiating a merger but the deal eventually fell apart which brings us back to CBS chief Leslie Moonves. Claire Atkinson from NY Post writes:

PlayStation and Sony Pictures to merge?

by Sohrab Osati | Dec 13, 2016 | 1 comment

Sony is different things to different folks – for some, they’re the company who makes their TV while to others, they are the makers of their previous laptop. But more and more, especially this last decade, Sony has become an entertainment company with PlayStation and Sony Pictures being big drivers of profits and growth. However, in the last few years, Sony Pictures has been dragging compared to the past, leading them to cut out a deal with Marvel which now has creative control over Spider-Man films. Interestingly, that might have just been a sign of things to come with Sony now mulling over the merger of Sony Pictures Entertainment and Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Lin-Manuel Miranda wants to play Carnage in the MCU

by Sohrab Osati | Nov 24, 2016 | 0 comments

Dear anybody at Sony Pictures, please begin writing the second Spider-Man flick that’s actually being truly helmed by Marvel/Disney and make sure that Carnage has a role in it. Unlike the previous outing of Venom which was too rushed for a character with depth, I have no problem with a simple setup for Carnage and a true reveal in Spidy’s third solo outing.

According to Angie Han from SlashFilm, Lin-Manuel Miranda, the man behind Hamilton and other various projects at Disney, wants to play the sinister Spider-Man foe.

Sony to Boost Sports Portfolio, Buys TEN Sports for $385 Million

by Sohrab Osati | Sep 15, 2016 | 0 comments

Particularly in the US, we’ve seen TV networks do their damnedest to get whatever live content they can. This ranges from the Olympics, to NFL games, musical productions, and whatever variety show they can put together. The reason? DVRs. You can’t simply skip live shows which means you’ll be sitting through those precious ads to view them. This is especially true with sports where not only do teams bring with them huge fan bases, but that those fans don’t want to be spoiled by the results and in turn are much more likely to tune in live.

Ultra, Sony’s 4K Streaming Service, is Gaining Rentals, Coming to PC

by Sohrab Osati | Aug 31, 2016 | 0 comments

Remember Ultra? Sony’s 4K streaming service? I wouldn’t fault you if you don’t. After all, Sony, in addition to Ultra which is exclusive to 4K devices, also offers PlayStation Video, Crackle, and supports the terrible mess that’s UltraViolet. Well, now in addition to being able to purchase films through the streaming service that still doesn’t have its own portal to give you more info about it, despite having launched in April, you’ll now be able to rent movies as well. And it’s coming to PC.

Beautiful New Kingsglaive Final Fantasy XV Trailer Arrives

by Sohrab Osati | Jul 27, 2016 | 0 comments

As someone who thoroughly enjoyed Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, I’ve gotten giddy every time there is something new to be seen in regards to Kingsglaive, the upcoming prequel movie to the long-delayed Final Fantasy XV.

Luckily for me, Sony has released a new trailer that for the first time includes all the official American voice actors, including Queen Regent of the Seven Kingdoms. Along with the new trailer, Square has also officially announced when the film will arrive on Blu-ray.

More Job Cuts Hit Sony in US

by Sohrab Osati | Jul 21, 2016 | 2 comments

It wouldn’t be summer without some form of unfortunate job cuts hitting Sony. According to sources, the job cuts in particular are due to lower than anticipated box office returns and mainly affecting Sony Pictures.

Sony Corporation of America (SCA) has already pink-slipped roughly 100 from its 700-person workforce as it looks to consolidate back-office functions.

Most of the senior vice president titles and above are going. The parent company is taking over. They don’t need a corporate structure in the US.

However, Sony begs to differ on the news.

Poll: Now that Civil War is out… Are you #TeamCap or #TeamIronMan?

by Allegra Osati | May 6, 2016 | 0 comments

It’s Avenger vs. Avenger in this weekend’s box office. Don’t worry, this is a spoiler-free zone (right, comments section? RIGHT?) so if you haven’t gone to your showing of Captain America: Civil War yet, this is a safe space. It’s so safe, in fact, that we’ll get straight to the point. So, now that Civil War is in theaters, whose side are you on? Let us know in our poll!