“Noah” was going to be a hard sell, even without the whispers of a director’s cut/studio cut haggle, even without a few names you see on the IMDB cast list not actually in the movie due to that cutting.

Paramount seems scared of their big budget Bible epic, and with some cause. It cost a lot. It’s got Evolution, environmentalism and vegetarianism, none of which is a selling point to the Evangelical Christian crowd.

And it stars Russell Crowe, whose big box office days are nearly a decade behind him.

That said, it’s pretty good and reviews have reflected that.

Will it do mid-$30s, as Box Office Mojo figures? I worry that’s too high, for the reasons I mentioned.

The Box Office Guru figures $36. So we’ll see. I’m thinking under $30. But I’d be pleased if it did better.

“Sabotage,” the latest serenade of suck from the aged Arnold Schwarzenegger, is getting terrible reviews and will be lucky to clear $8, both Mojo and Guru figure. I say $6.Terrible reviews for that one.

“Divergent” could lose 60% of its opening weekend audience and still clear $22 million, so that may happen. Any lower than that should scare Summit to death, with a franchise in the making and all.

“Cesar Chavez” is opening at few theaters, but predictions are for it to hit $6-7 million, thanks to the Hispanic market’s interest in a weakly reviewed (I liked it, others less so) story of a Latino icon.