Lions Gate's 'Gods of Egypt' Expected To Rise Over Newcomers But Fall To 'Deadpool'

Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (USA) LGF's quest to find its next "Hunger Games" series continues this weekend with "Gods of Egypt" but investors are likely very aware this won't be the studio's next big thing.

The $140 million-budgeted film was announced with great fanfare by Lions Gate, but quickly found itself in freefall when audiences responded negatively to early footage. Just as was the case with Twenty-First Century Fox Inc FOXA with 2014's "Exodus: Gods and Kings," "Egypt" got slammed for casting white actors in roles that depict ethnic characters.

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With the Oscars this weekend and the #OscarsSoWhite story still hot, the controversy came back to life the last few days and early projections are low. Tracking on the film is around $12 million to potentially $15 million with a nice bulk of that coming from IMAX and 3D screenings.

While that opening range is demoralizing for any film with a triple digit production cost, due to Australian tax credits and foreign pre-sales the studio is (shockingly) only on the hook for $10 million (not counting marketing/promotional cost).

Open Road and Fox are both releasing new films this weekend as well, but returning champ "Deadpool" is expected to win the weekend for the third time. The Fox film could collect another $30 million which will set it on a course to reach $300 million mark domestically by the beginning of March.