Its parks, experiences and products segment, impacted especially hard by the global shutdown, saw an estimated $1bn revenue hit.
The Walt Disney Company estimates as much as $1.4bn in lost profit in Q1, 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the company said on Tuesday.
Operating income within the studio group dropped 8% as films like Pixar’s Onward left theatres and stage plays stopped. Revenues at the company did climb 21% to $18.01bn, but that has largely to do with difficult year-over-year comparisons.
However, studio entertainment revenues for the quarter increased by 18% to $2.5bn owing to the success of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Frozen 2.
Further, Disney’s streaming service Disney Plus was rolled out in several European countries and India during this quarter despite the global shutdown. The service now has 54.5m paid subscribers.
Disney’s direct-to-consumer arm saw revenues for the quarter increased from $1.1bn to $4.1bn, even as operating losses increased from $385m to $812m.
“While the COVID-19 pandemic has had an appreciable financial impact on a number of our businesses, we are confident in our ability to withstand this disruption and emerge from it in a strong position,” Disney CEO Bob Chapek said in a statement. “Disney has repeatedly shown that it is exceptionally resilient, bolstered by the quality of our storytelling and the strong affinity consumers have for our brands, which is evident in the extraordinary response to Disney Plus since its launch last November.”
