Disney surprises Wall Street with hefty profit

The surprising success of the relatively low-budget Spy Kids (it cost $35 million to produce and has earned $106 million domestically), strong DVD sales, particularly for its direct-to-video production of Lady and the Tramp II, together with cost cutting powered the Walt Disney Co. to an 8.6-percent increase in profits during the third quarter, topping Wall Street predictions. The company said that it earned $362 million on revenue of $5.98 billion versus $361 million on revenue of $6.05 billion during the same quarter a year ago. The improvement came despite a 29-percent downturn in Disney’s TV business, including the ABC network, owned stations, and cable networks. Moreover, despite the opening this year of a new theme park in California (California Adventure), profits from the Disney theme park business fell 1 percent.