Profits at Walt Disney have fallen 46%, due to low box office returns by some of its movies.
Movies such as Confession of a Shopaholic, Bolt, and Beverly Hills Chihuahua performed poorly at the cinema and in DVD sales.
Disney made net profit of $US613 million (£407m) in the first three months of 2009, down from $US1.13 billion a year ago. The recession has also hurt its theme parks.
However, its results beat Wall Street forecasts and its shares rose.
Operating profit at Disney's studio division fell 97% to $13m.
Disney reported a sharp drop in guest spending at its resorts and theme parks, but said its cable television networks have held up well during the downturn despite lower advertising revenue.
Disney owns the ESPN and ABC television networks.
