Not before the reviews. I really do believe if the movie had at least 50% on RT, it would have hit that $45m-$50m for the weekend and be halfway through it's budget even before international numbers comes in.
I mean NT is really the world of extremes where everyone seems to lament Fox like they didn't do a good job with DoFP (which is the highest grossing X-film to date). They were coming off that high and before that was First Class (which was also well received by the critics and made decent money). Yes there was a step back with the Wolverine but that was tons better than Origins so in terms of Wolverine franchise it was still a step forward (even in the box office). It really is pretty much just on NT where people got blinders on and they forget or choose not to remember how well received other Fox films were and they were trending on a good path.
I tried not to let the reports of production problems and bad press get into me until I saw the film, so no I did not expect it to flop until maybe a few week til the movies release. I was looking forward to it and Tranks take, I really liked Chronicle and the cast and the sci-fi feel.