Bumper Black Panther box office take helps push Disney to profit growth

A box-office bonanza boosted Walt Disney in the latest quarter, helping the entertainment giant return to profit growth.

A scene from Marvel Studios' Black Panther. (Matt Kennedy/Marvel Studios-Disney via AP)

A box-office bonanza, driven by the performance of Marvel Studios’ Black Panther, boosted Walt Disney in the latest quarter and returned the entertainment giant to profit growth.

Disney’s slate of films — though the blockbuster Avengers: Infinity War premiered after the quarter ended — and another strong showing from parks and resorts helped it offset continued weakness at television sports network ESPN, which has struggled to attract and retain subscribers.

Shares, which lag the market with a 14 per cent decline over the past 12 months, rose 0.6 per cent to $US102.40 in after-hours trading.

Disney, the world’s largest entertainment company, remains bullish on ESPN’s sports programming and has made it a key piece of its digital push.

Investing in direct-to-consumer digital platforms like ESPN+, which launched last month, are among Chief Executive Robert Iger’s top priorities. The interest also helped drive Disney to pay nearly $US2.6 billion for majority control of technology company BamTech and agree to a $US52.4bn stock deal for key assets of 21st Century Fox Inc.

Comcast Corp. is also considering making a play for the Fox assets, which include the Twentieth Century Fox TV and film studio and Fox’s 39 per cent stake in European pay TV operator Sky PLC. It has lined up around $US60bn in what would be an all-cash offer, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Fox and Wall Street Journal publisher News Corp. share common ownership.

Over all, Disney’s fiscal second-quarter profit rose 23 per cent to $US2.94bn, or $US1.95 a share. Excluding the impact from the US tax overhaul and other items, per-share profit rose to $US1.84 from $US1.50 a year earlier.

Revenue rose 9 per cent to $US14.55bn.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had projected adjusted earnings of $US1.70 a share on $US14.11bn in revenue.

The company’s parks and resorts posted another strong showing, with revenue rising 13 per cent while operating profit rose 27 per cent. Meanwhile, the studio-entertainment segment reported a 21 per cent increase in revenue and 29 per cent improvement in operating profit.

Meanwhile, media networks, its largest segment by revenue and home to Disney’s cable networks and broadcast operations, saw operating profit fall 6 per cent while revenue rose 3 per cent to $US6.14bn.

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