Sony 2006 Annual Report Download - page 34

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ENTERTAINMENT
PICTURES
Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (SPE) increased its revenues for
the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006, advanced its position in the
emerging digital entertainment marketplace and made substantial
gains in the growth of its global film and television production and
distribution businesses.
In motion pictures, the studio had box office success both in the
United States and overseas with the $100 million hit Fun With Dick
and Jane and Screen Gems titles The Exorcism of Emily Rose and
Underworld: Evolution. SPE ended calendar year 2005 with over
$1 billion in ticket sales in North America for the fourth year in a
row, securing its position as the No. 1 studio in U.S. box office
receipts over the 2002–2005 period. In addition, the studio had
five films open at No. 1 in the U.S. in the first four months of
calendar year 2006.
As part of a long-standing strategy to meet growing demand for
films internationally, in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006, SPE
continued to expand its local language business by launching a
joint film production venture in India and is in the process of
launching one in Russia as well, two of the most dynamic movie
markets in the world.
On the home entertainment front, Sony Pictures Home
Entertainment (SPHE) has been a significant driver of growth for
SPE’s motion picture and television businesses. SPE continues to
lead the way in digitizing its film and television library with more
titles available for digital distribution than any other studio. During
the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006, in addition to its successful
DVD business, SPHE distributed content on Universal Media Disc
(UMD) and prepared for the release of films on Blu-ray Disc.
SPHE launched its new digital sell-through distribution business in
April 2006, making films available for sale via the Internet on sites
http://www.sonypictures.net/
including Movielink and CinemaNow. SPHE also continued to
focus on international expansion and its third-party acquisition
as well as production program and direct-to-video filmmaking.
Leading the way in the digital revolution is Sony Pictures Digital
(SPD). Imageworks, SPD’s Academy Award®-winning state-of-the-
art visual effects and digital production studio, was recognized by
the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences with an Oscar®
nomination for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch &
The Wardrobe. Sony Online Entertainment continues its success
in massively multiplayer online gaming with over 680,000 active
accounts worldwide for mega-hits like EverQuest, EverQuest II, Star
Wars Galaxies and PlanetSide. And SPD’s newest addition, Sony
Pictures Animation, will release its first full-length CGI feature, Open
Season, in September 2006 and Surf’s Up in the summer of 2007.
During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006, Sony Pictures
Television (SPT) continued its U.S. daytime drama television
leadership with the No. 1 and No. 2 shows (The Young and the
Restless and Days of our Lives) and its syndication success with
the No. 1 and No. 2 U.S. syndicated game shows (Wheel of
Fortune and Jeopardy!), and the enormously popular Seinfeld.
In 2006, SPT received seven awards at the 33rd Annual Daytime
Emmy Awards, and its program The Shield was named a Peabody
Award winner at the 2006 Annual Peabody Awards.
SPT also produces The King of Queens, Dragon Tales,
Kidnapped and ’Til Death and has nine network pilots in the current
development season. On cable, SPT remained the No. 1 producer
of original scripted series for U.S. basic cable during fiscal year
2005 with more original dramas on the air than any other studio,
including four of the top 15 (The Shield, Rescue Me, Stargate
SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis).