Lower Universal film revenue drags on Comcast earnings

A sharp decline in box office revenue from Universal Pictures weighed on second quarterly earnings for parent company Comcast Corp.

Revenue from Universal movies totaled $1.35 billion in the three months that ended June 30, down 40% from the same period last year when the Los Angeles studio released the massive hits “Jurassic World” and “Furious 7,” the company said Wednesday.

The slide in the film segment is not a surprise, given the success of those two franchise movies — two of the biggest performers of 2015.

Universal suffered from several high-profile flops during the quarter, including the sequel “The Huntsman: Winter’s War” and the big-budget, video-game adaptation “Warcraft.” Theatrical film revenue posted a 79% decline year-over-year.

The drop was a drag on Comcast’s profit, which fell 5% to $2.03 billion, or 83 cents per share. Nonetheless, the company’s earnings did better than Wall Street analysts had expected.

Total revenue increased 3% to $19.3 billion, thanks to boosts from the company’s cable provider business and NBCUniversal’s television networks and theme parks, which benefited from the opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter attraction in Hollywood.

“Despite an expected difficult comparison to last year’s record second quarter film slate, NBCUniversal achieved solid results, driven by strength in our TV businesses and theme parks,” Comcast Chief Executive Brian Roberts said in a statement.

Comcast shares rose 74 cents, or 1%, to $67.92 on Wednesday.

Investors in the cable business have been focused on cord cutting by people who don’t want to pay for a traditional pay-TV bundle. But Comcast cheered the fact that it lost relatively few subscribers in the quarter.

The company lost 4,000 subscribers, its best result for a second quarter in a decade. It also added 220,000 Internet customers, helping to boost cable communications revenue 6% to $12.4 billion.

Craig Moffett, a cable analyst at MoffettNathanson Research, said it makes sense that cord cutting isn’t getting worse for Comcast, because of the slowing growth of Netflix and the so-called skinny bundle option Sling TV.

“Cord cutting remains quiescent, at least for now,” Moffett said in a research report.

As for the NBCUniversal division, cable networks, including MSNBC, E! and Bravo, increased revenue by 5%, while broadcasting sales rose 17%, excluding last year’s broadcast of the Super Bowl. Theme park revenue jumped 47% to $1.1 billion.

ryan.faughdner@latimes.com

Follow Ryan Faughnder on Twitter for more entertainment business coverage: @rfaughnder

UPDATES:

1:20 p.m.: This article was updated with closing stock prices.

This article was originally published at 10:45 a.m.