Alas not even the magnetic presence of Rihanna could save it from its doom. It's rare when a studio exec admits when the studio makes a mistake; but that's what happened this past Friday
Brian Roberts, the Chairman of Comcast, which owns NBU/Universal, publicly admitted in a speech on Friday at a business conference in New York, that Battleship has been a big flop for the studio.
He said that it was "an unfortunate large miss" that will have "a negative quarter impact on NBCUniversal" in contrast to last year, when Universal was rolling in dough, thanks to Fast Five and Bridemaids.
The media, however, hasn't covered the flop that Battleship has been for the studio, mainly because, as some claim, there was so much attention and so much written about John Carter, and what a financial disaster that was for Walt Disney Pictures, that Battleship got overlooked.
Also the fact that both John Carter and Battleship toplined the supposed big new "hot Hollywood discovery" Taylor Kitsch who is now 0 for 2.
Rihanna will survive of course. She won't be affected at all, but Kitsch on the other hand looks like he'll be making making his next appearance working the midnight shift at a 7-11 in El Paso.