Christian Bale’s “Exodus: Gods and Kings” is set to take the U.S. box office crown this weekend with early Friday estimates showing an opening of about $25 million.
Fox’s Biblical epic looks likely to take in about $9 million Friday, including $1.2 million from late Thursday shows. A $25 million launch would be in line with recent forecasts, the most bullish of which went as high as $30 million.
The weekend will finish well below the year-ago period, when “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” kicked off with $73.6 million. “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” opens next Friday in the U.S.
“Exodus,” which carries a production cost of $140 million, is debuting at 3,503 locations. The film debuted last weekend in 10 foreign markets including South Korea and Mexico, picking up $23.1 million; as of Wednesday, that number had surpassed $32 million as the film moves into another 38 markets.
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