21st Century Fox's entertainment assets helped push earnings past Wall Street estimates last quarter, validating a plan by Walt Disney to acquire the business.

Movies such as Deadpool 2 and cable-network subscriber fees contributed to earnings of 57 cents (£44p) a share in the fiscal fourth quarter, excluding some items. Analysts estimated 54 cents a share on average for the company, which is controlled by billionaire Rupert Murdoch.

Disney is currently preparing to acquire the bulk of the media company’s operations. Fox shareholders approved a $71bn deal last month to sell off 20th Century Fox studio and cable channels such as FX and National Geographic.

The remaining parts of the companies will be used to create “New Fox,” which will retain the Fox network, Fox News and other assets.

Revenue rose 18pc to $7.94bn last quarter, topping the $7.55bn estimated by analysts. Still, with the Disney deal looming, investors aren’t trading as much on Fox’s results. The shares were little changed after-hours, trading around $45.58 this evening. 

The biggest lingering question is how New Fox will fare. In addition to the main Fox network and Fox News, sports channel FS1 and other properties would be spun off into a separate publicly held business.

Senior Fox executives such as Peter Rice, meanwhile, are expected to move to Disney.

Earnings for cable-network programming grew 12pc to $1.61bn in the fourth quarter, which ended June 30. Filmed entertainment posted a profit of $289m, compared with a loss of $22m a year earlier.

The success of the Deadpool sequel helped fuel the movie business’s turnaround, with the superhero film generating move than $730m in worldwide box-office sales.

International cable revenue increased, with affiliate sales up 12pc and advertising posting a 55pc gain – helped by the Indian Premier League championship.