The Japanese conglomerate reported operating profits of 465.2bn yen (£3bn) for the third quarter to the end of December, a 32% rise on the same period a year earlier.

That was after the films business saw earnings jump more than seven fold to 149.4bn yen (£960m) as its revenue more than doubled.

It was propelled by the success of "Spider-Man: No Way Home" which since its release in December has become the sixth-highest grossing film ever with box office sales of $1.7bn worldwide.

Another film, "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" also boosted the results as did licensing revenues from the sitcom Seinfeld.

Sony lifted its profit forecast for the full year by 15% to 1.2trn yen (£7.7bn) on the back of the results.

The company's gaming segment, focused on PlayStation, also posted a rise in profits as it sold 3.9 million PS5 consoles - though supplies were hampered by hardware shortages.

But it cut its full-year PS5 sales forecast "primarily due to shortages in the supply of components, especially semiconductors".

Meanwhile, music sales increased - with Adele's album 30 Sony's top seller - though profits from the division dropped.

The results come after Sony earlier this week announced the acquisition of games developer Bungie for $3.6bn - the latest move in a wave of consolidation in the industry after Xbox maker Microsoft said it would buy Call Of Duty maker Activision Blizzard.