Sony Pictures History (cont'd)

Columbia Pictures and Screen Gems ended 2008 on a high note. Every film they produced that year was a financial success, resulting in the third biggest year at the box office in Sony Pictures’ history. This momentum continued into the beginning of 2009 when the low budget comedy PAUL BLART: MALL COP grossed more than $140 million, and the third installment of the UNDERWORLD series, RISE OF THE LYCANS delivered another solid perfomance for Screen Gems. ANGELS & DEMONS, the highly anticipated sequel to THE DA VINCI CODE, thrilled summer crowds to the tune of $470 million. A vast majority of the film’s box office receipts came from overseas markets.

August was fueled by successive hits for the studio, including the extraordinary performance by the science fiction thriller, DISTRICT 9, a film acquired by the Worldwide Acquisitions Group. JULIE & JULIA opened soon after, starring Meryl Streep and generating significant acclaim for the actress who won a Golden Globe award for Best Actress for her performance as Julia Child.

The sales of Blu-ray™ set-top players doubled in the first quarter of 2009 over the same quarter in 2008, leaving little doubt that Blu-ray™ was on track to achieving mainstream status. Anticipating this continued growth, SPHE introduced added-value features to BD-Live technology (internet connected Blu-ray Disc™ players) including social networking and a new application called IQ. The 25th anniversary of GHOSTBUSTERS was recently observed by SPHE with the release of a special Blu-ray™ edition which quickly hit the top of the charts in the UK. A new multi-platform video game penned by the original GHOSTBUSTERS writers quickly sold more than $1 million copies making it one of the hottest video games of the summer.

The beloved storybook CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS–SPA’s latest feature-length film–hit movie screens in September in 3D stereoscopic and was #1 on box office charts for 2 weekends, making it their most successful film to date. Shortly after, SPE’s worldwide juggernaut 2012 catapulted into blockbuster territory with an opening weekend of $230 million. The apocalyptic saga of survival by Roland Emmerich surpassed $684 million and is the 18th highest grossing film of all time overseas. Both movies were supported by Imageworks whose work in special effects and 3D stereoscopic provided stunning visual excitement.