Box-office bomb “Battleship” will most likely sink NBCUniversal’s second quarter, according to Comcast boss Brian Roberts.
The CEO said the $210 million budget stinkeroo — which has grossed just $50.3 million in the US in its first two weeks in theaters — will result in a “negative” second quarter.
“We’ll be flat to slightly down, but right around what we expected — except for ‘Battleship,’” said Roberts in a presentation at the Sanford Bernstein media conference.
“We had ‘Fast Five’ and ‘Bridesmaids’ last year [in the second quarter], but this year we had a large miss and an unfortunate miss in ‘Battleship’ and another one in, ‘The Five-Year Engagement,’” he said.
Roberts added that comparisons with last year would also look tough because of an online deal that got booked in the year ago second quarter.
“Battleship” escaped the bad press that hit Disney because of the $200 million write-down that studio was forced to take because of the egg it laid with “John Carter” — but “Battleship” was a bomb for its Universal Pictures nonetheless.
Foreign box office for the flick is roughly $232.7 million, according to data from boxofficemojo.com.
Both disasters starred the same actor, Taylor Kitsch.
Likewise, “The Five-Year Engagement” drew just $28 million domestically and $4.7 million overseas.
Universal, run by Ron Meyer, will likely see things pick up with this weekend’s “Snow White and the Huntsman,” which is on track for a $50 million open.
Roberts was more comfortable talking about the cable business than the unpredictable movie industry.
He also hinted that the Olympics won’t be a big earner, saying that they had already been accounted for as an “unfavorable contract.”
The network has sold around $900 million of ads for the London Games.
The 52-year-old executive also told investors his priorities are:
* Growing video subscribers after years of declines.
“The mission internally is to get back to positive video [subscriber growth], and in a number of markets that has happened,” Roberts said. “Hopefully, we are talking about when, not if.”
* Getting paid fair value for cable networks such as USA Network, which lag other big entertainment channels in affiliate fees.
* Getting the same retransmission fees for NBC as are paid to other broadcast networks.
Roberts said the company is committed to buying the rest of GE’s stake in NBCUniversal over the next few years.
Comcast shares closed yesterday at $28.63, down 1 percent.


