Marvel Ent. reported operating results for its second quarter and six months ended June 30, 2008.
For Q2 2008, Marvel reported net sales of $156.9 million and net income of $46.7 million, or $0.59 per diluted share, compared to net sales of $101.5 million and net income of $29.1 million, or $0.34 per diluted share, in Q2 2007.
The year-over-year improvement reflects a strong performance in the licensing segment and initial contributions from the film production segment of $28.9 million in net sales and $7.7 million in gross profit attributable to a portion of the foreign presales for the IRON MAN and THE INCREDIBLE HULK feature films.
Marvel's Chairman, Morton Handel, said, "Revenue from Marvel's film production segment commenced in the second quarter with the release of IRON MAN and THE INCREDIBLE HULK. We're very pleased with the success of these films, which have generated $817 million in global box office receipts -- $571 million from IRON MAN and $246 million from THE INCREDIBLE HULK -- with IRON MAN still to open in Japan. Because of the timing of our distributors' revenue reporting, our Q2 results did not reflect any revenue from the films' box office performance. We did, however, record initial revenues in Q2 from the foreign pre-sales of both movies. In addition, the high level of media and consumer interest in these two films helped to drive strong results in our domestic and international licensing divisions in the period."
"With growing international sales to complement our already strong domestic licensing program and a focus on generating higher value from online and interactive activities, we believe Marvel is well positioned as we develop our pipeline of future self-produced feature films," Handel added.
