Box Office Preview: Will Depp Have Egg On His Face Come Monday?

Open since Wednesday the Christian themed Heaven Is For Real (reviews) had a solid debut. Based on the  book by Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent, questions about the afterlife are explored.

Opening Today: Johnny Depp has an out of body experience of sorts in  "The Dark Knight" cinematographer Wally Pfister's directorial debut Transcendence (reviews). Get scared silly with the horror spoof sequel A Haunted House 2 (reviews),  Finally Disney Nature presents Bears (reviews).

How big a role that Marvel's Captain America: The Winter Soldier (My review) and Rio 2 will play this Easter weekend is unclear

 Pamela McClintock of THR:

If pre-release tracking is correct, Johnny Depp's Transcendence may only cross $20 million in its North American debut, a soft start for the $100 million sci-fi epic.

That leaves the Easter weekend box office race up for grabs. Holdovers Rio 2 and Captain America: The Winter Soldier each have a shot at coming in ahead of Transcendence, which will have to combat dismal reviews.

Transcendence, marking Depp's first return to theaters since last summer's ill-fated The Lone Ranger, could make up ground overseas, where it is getting a coveted day-and-date release in China.

Alcon Entertainment co-financed the film with China's DMG Entertainment, while Warner Bros. is handling domestic distribution duties. Summit International sold Transcendence overseas to independent distributors, covering much of the budget. Straight Up Films developed the project, and brought it to Alcon.

Marking the directorial debut of cinematographer Wally Pfister -- a favorite of Christopher Nolan's -- Transcendence stars Depp as a brilliant scientist whose mind is uploaded into a computer after he is gunned down. Rebecca Hall and Morgan Freeman also star, while Nolan and his wife, Emma Thomas, served as executive producers.

Easter weekend sees three other new nationwide offerings -- Christian film Heaven Is For Real, which debuted Wednesday, A Haunted House 2 and Disney documentary Bears.

Sony's TriStar label remains hopeful that Heaven Is For Real will nab more than $20 million in its five-day debut. The movie, starring Greg Kinnear, took in a strong $3.7 million on Wednesday, enough to top the North American box office.

IM Global's Haunted House 2 is looking like an easy win. The comedy-horror film, reteaming director Michael Tiddes and star Marlon Wayans, could take in more than $15 million for the weekend, although U.S. distributor Open Roads Films is opting for a more conservative $10 million.

Haunted House 2, a follow-up to the 2013 box office hit, cost just $3 million to produce. Wayans co-wrote the script with his longtime filmmaking partner Rick Alvarez.

Bears is expected to open in the $6 million to $7 million range. Directed by Alastair Fothergrill and Keith Scholey, the nature documentary follows a family of grizzly bears living in Alaska. John C. Reilly narrated the film.