Smart movie makers can see this when they are making a niche movie, and they keep their budget really small. This way, they can have people see their movie, but also recoup their original cost. Other smart movie makers can see that what they have is extremely valuable, make their movie great, and recoup their money and then some.
Then there are movies like Gods of Egypt...
Gods of Egypt brought in about 14 million dollars domestically in its first weekend on a 140 million dollar budget. It is incredibly unlikely that they will recoup the cost when they only made 10% of the budget back in the first weekend. So why did they make this movie!!!?
It isn't like this idea was amazing, or it was something people haven't seen before, or the plot looks amazing, or the actors are super A-list, or the special effects look enticing, or Egypt movies bring lots of people to the theater. Honestly, this movie had almost zero appeal. The first time I saw the trailer before Star Wars, everyone in the theater was audibly laughing. I can understand when a movie is made that had good bones or a good, unique idea backing it, and it unexpectedly flops (The Lone Ranger), but when your movie looks and feels ridiculous from the get go, why does anyone put forward the money to fund it!!?
I think you could have gone on the street in any town in America and asked people walking by, "Do you think Gods of Egypt is going to do well at the box office?" and you would have heard a resounding "NO!" So how do people who actually know what they are doing approve making such a movie?
I guess what I am saying is that Gods of Egypt is representative of a whole genre of movies, (John Carter, Zoolander 2, Dumb and Dumber 2, Hercules, etc.) that when I see the preview, I roll my eyes, and wonder, "Who paid for this, and legitimately thought this would make a lot of money at the box office when I, as a casual movie goer, could have told you the idea was terrible when it was pitched!?"