Rihanna has done it again. Universal Pictures’ decision to cast the troubled singer in their latest film “Battleship” has paid off. In just the opening weekend, “Battleship” has earned a staggering $170 million in ticket sales, despite the awful reviews of her first film.

And here’s the kicker: the film doesn’t even open in the United States until May 18!

By the way, “Battleship” can be downloaded for personal home viewing if you know how to find it online. But I prefer to wait until the film premieres in theaters. I predict Rihanna’s “Battleship” will do bigger box office numbers than the Avengers kiddie movie.

From Forbes.com:

“Battleship” is now up to $170 Mil worldwide without US release until May 18th.

“Battleship,” Universal Pictures’ big summer entertainment, cost over $200 million to make. You know it’s cheesy and not very good, so why subject the studio to American reviews? Very wisely, Universal has been opening “Battleship” around the world in advance of its May 18th U.S. landing. And the result: already $129 million in the bank. And more to come. These numbers are from Boxofficemojo.com.

And they tell you why Ron Meyer is so good at his job running the studio. The movie has terrible reviews–it’s scored a 48% on Rotten Tomatoes. One British reviewer simply called it “trash.” Universal calls it “money” and there will enough of it by May 18th to avoid a “John Carter” disaster. This is the new trend. If your movie is bad, play for it people who just need to see explosions and special effects. The movie stars non-actor Rihanna, and “John Carter” hero Taylor Kitsch.