Sony Posts First Quarter Profit Despite Failure of After Earth

Buoyed by a music catalog sale

Sony Corp. on Thursday said it swung to a fiscal first-quarter profit as it benefited from a weaker yen and cost cuts.

Its film unit recorded an operating profit for the quarter ended June 30 thanks to an asset sale that outweighed a theatrical revenue drop that was in part due what the company acknowledged was an "underperformance" of After Earth starring Will Smith and Jaden Smith.