It was a significant, if small, sign of change within Japan's premier electronics company. Sony Corp. Chairman Nobuyuki Idei not only showed up for the London opening of "Spider-Man"--unusual enough--but the stately and reserved executive also mugged for the cameras with star Tobey Maguire.
Sony, it seems, is no longer embarrassed to own a Hollywood studio.
Since purchasing the studio in 1989, Sony has been the butt of jokes, known as much for churning out over-the-top flops as for profligate spending that forced it to take a $3.2-billion write-off in 1994, one of the largest losses in Japanese corporate history.
But that was before "Spider-Man," which scored the largest opening weekend and has blown past $400 million in U.S. ticket sales. A slate of summer blockbusters have followed, including "Mr. Deeds," "Stuart Little 2" and "Men in Black II," which opened July 3 and delivered the biggest Fourth of July box office ever. Coming next month is a potential rocket blast from hip-hop spy thriller "XXX."
Sony's movie lineup broke all summer records and helped rack up $1 billion in U.S. ticket sales, more than most studios make in a year. First-quarter earnings are due today, and movie profits this year are expected to make the studio second only to Sony's successful PlayStation in importance to the bottom line.
The turnaround underscores Hollywood's fickle nature: Studios are on top one year and buried the next. The trick is putting together a consistent lineup from one year to the next.
Sony has had a few hits, but nothing like this. Though it must prove that it has box-office staying power, its sudden success earns the studio new cachet in Japan: Sony says that its Hollywood assets are worth at least $14 billion.
"I've been telling Tokyo this was going to be fine," said Howard Stringer, chairman and CEO of Sony Corp. of America. "And now we really are having a banner year. It's hard to argue anymore."
It was beloved Sony co-founder Akio Morita who pioneered the modern-day marriage of content and technology, a throwback to the early days of consumer electronics when Thomas Edison couldn't just invent the phonograph, he needed to supply the recordings to build consumer demand.
Morita bought CBS Records in 1987 for $2 billion. Two years later, he approved the $3.4-billion acquisition of Columbia Pictures Entertainment, considered a stunning overpayment for a company carrying $1.6 billion in debt.
