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Leading a busy week of entertainment industry earnings reports that also includes News Corp and CBS, both Marvel Entertainment and Disney reported today. The quick facts, by the numbers:

MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT EARNINGS

For the first quarter, the company reported earnings of $44.5m or 57 cents a share, down modestly from $45.2 last year. Courtesy of solid DVD sales from its first two in-house movies, the Incredible Hulk and Iron Man, revenue rose 75%to $197m.  Licensing revenue was off 4% to approximately $81m.  Analysts expected earnings of 37 cents on revenue of $138.2m.

Looking forward to the rest of 2009, Marvel is raising the low end of its net income guidance.  The company now expects net sales of $450 to $485m, up from $415 to $460m.  Net income is projected in the range of $86 to $105m, up from $80 to $105m.   Licensing is expected to contrinbute sales of $200 to $215m.  Film production is expected to contribute revenue of $135 to $145m in 2009.

In pipeline, Marvel Studios’ next feature, Iron Man 2, is scheduled for May 2010.  X-Men Origins: Wolverine, part of the licensed segment, is in theaters now. This weekend, it generated approximately $158m in worldwide box office receipts, $85m of that domestically. A Spiderman musical with music and lyrics by U2’s Bono and the Edge is scheduled to debut February 18th, 2010.   Other core theatrical releases including Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America and Spiderman 4, are on track for 2011 and 2012.

DISNEY EARNINGS

For the second quarter Disney reported a 46% drop in net income, producing $613m, or 33 cents  a share, on revenue of $8.09b.  That includes $305m in one time charges ($203m in non cash impairment and $102m in restructuring.  $108m of the impairment charges were related to FCC radio licensing). Less the charges, Disney earned EPS of 43 cents. Wall Street expected 40 cents from revenue of $8.15b.

Looking at segments and other numbers:
• Interactive Media saw revenue fall off 17% to $129m.  Operating income was near flat, down 2% to a loss of $61m.

• Media Networks saw revenue climb 2% to $3,620m while Op. Income fell 4%.  Broken out to sub segments, Cable revenue was up 4% and broadcast revenue was down 2%.  Cable Op Income was up 5%, broadcast Op Income was down 38%.

• Studio Entertainment revenue was off 21% on the quarter to $1.4b.  The segment’s operating icome was down 97% to $13m. 

• Overall, free cash flow was $1,318m, down from $2,669 for the year earlier period.

Related Articles from Metue
• Marvel Making Magic: Clever Finance Turning into Earnings and Box Office
• Disney and YouTube Reach Content Deal

More detailed press coverage of Marvel finances from other sources can be found at:
Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Marketwatch

More detailed press coverage of Disney’s finances from other sources can be found at:
Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Marketwatch