Moana 2 c The Walt Disney Company

Source: The Walt Disney Company

‘Moana 2’

The dynamic box office performance of Moana 2 helped Disney beat Wall Street estimates in the first quarter as revenue grew 5% year-on-year to $24.7bn and adjusted earnings per share increased by 44% to $1.76.

Operating income for the company as a whole grew 31% to $5.1bn. In the entertainment segment, revenue for the studio division, streaming and linear TV climbed 9% to $10.9bn, while operating income grew by 95% to $1.7bn.

The studio division revenue for the period ended December 28 2024 gained 34% to reach $2.2bn and operating income swung from a $244m loss in the year-ago quarter to $312m, powered by Moana 2 and Mufasa: The Lion King, which compared favourably the year-ago periods when The Marvels and Wish were in release.

Moana 2 opened over Thanksgiving weekend and has earned more than $1bn worldwide to date, while Mufasa opened in December and stands at more than $650m worldwide.

Streaming division revenue increased by 9% to $6.1bn and operating income swung from a $138m loss to $293m for a third consecutive profitable quarter.

However the Disney+ North American subscriber count remained flat on 56.8m and international fell 2% to 67.8m for a 1% decline worldwide to 124.6m. Total Hulu membership gained 3% to reach 53.6m, combining with Disney+ for 178m.

Disney said it had expected the decline at Disney+ and attributed that to last October’s price hike, advising there would be a modest drop in subscriber count in the second quarter. Average monthly revenue per paid member in North America climbed 4% to $7.99, while that of international increased 6% to $7.19.

Excluding the Disney+ Hotstar service in India, streaming advertising revenue increased 16% year-on-year.

Linear networks revenue fell 7% to $2.7bn, however Disney CEO Bob Iger told analysts that he viewed the linear networks as an asset, although he did not rule out possible sales in the future.

Shares fell nearly 2% by the early afternoon.

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