"Exodus: Gods and Kings" is expected to come out on top of the U.S. box office charts this weekend with a strong $25 million opening, says Variety.

The Biblical epic, starring Christian Bale, has already taken in $1.2 million from early Thursday previews, and looks like it will earn another $9 million by Friday. Recent predictions from industry observers say the film is likely to make $25 million when the weekend rolls out, with some forecasts going as high as $30 million even.

Fox's "Exodus: Gods and Kings" had a production cost of around $140 million, and is currently opening in more than 3,500 locations around the world. Last weekend saw the movie earn $23 million already from foreign theaters, and reached up to $32 million by Wednesday.

Critical reviews of the film, however, have been mixed, with several scathing reviews coming in regarding the film. Here's what some of the critics had to say:

Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly: "As ever, Scott is more interested in your eye than your heart or head. He's a visual storyteller, a builder of breathtaking worlds. Scott also doesn't seem to know what to do with his embarrassment-of-riches cast."

Ty Burr of Boston Globe: "It's a good, solid multiplex barnstormer, and all that's missing is the juice and the pulp of a story that's been around 3,000 years for a reason. The one DeMille told our grandparents still has a tent-show fervor... by contrast, Scott's "Exodus" is dutiful, deeply earnest, and more than a little dull."

A.O. Scott of the NY Times: "Not for the first time, Mr. Scott confuses excessive scale with authentic grandeur... in the past, this director has also shown a knack for intimacy and intensity, for moments of feeling that stand out amid the fight-and-flight adrenaline rushes. That was a long time ago."

Claudia Puig of USA Today: "Swarms of flies, oozing pustules, alligator attacks and gaggles of frogs are vividly rendered in three dimensions in Exodus: Gods and Kings. And yet this biblical epic is still bland, overly long and otherwise forgettable."

Christian Bale stars as Moses in this epic from Fox, with Joel Edgerton, John Turturro, and Aaaron Paul supporting. Sigourney Weaver and Ben Kingsley also joins the cast, with Ridley Scott directing.