Summary

Screen Rant
‘s
Pitch Meeting
for Gods of Egypt hilariously points out plot issues and the excessive budget spent on the film.
The movie’s low critical reception could be credited as due to the writers’ negative track record and the director’s decline in critical success.
Whitewashing casting choices and competition with other films contributed to
Gods of Egypt
‘s box office failure.

Screen Rant’s Pitch Meeting series is going fantastically ancient as the latest episode explores Gods of Egypt. The 2016 action movie revolved around a young thief named Bek who partners with the Egyptian God of Air Horus to restore his powers and bring down the maniacal Set after he claims dominion over mankind in a brutal coup. Gerard Butler led the ensemble Gods of Egypt cast alongside Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Brenton Thwaites, Élodie Young, Chadwick Boseman and Geoffrey Rush.

Just over eight years after the movie hit theaters, Screen Rant’s own Pitch Meeting series is taking a look back at Gods of Egypt. The latest episode, which can be seen at the top of this article, pokes fun at the movie’s various plot issues, namely its underwhelming setups for various events and simplistic happy ending. The video also mocks Lionsgate having spent an excessive amount of money on the movie to create a franchise, and director/producer Alex Proyas’ critical comments against negative reviews.

Gods of Egypt Was Always Doomed To Fail

Sitting at a 14% approval rating from critics on review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes, Gods of Egypt sits as the worst-reviewed movie for many of the cast and crew behind the project, save for Butler, who has endured even worse reception to the likes of The Bounty Hunter, Playing for Keeps and Movie 43. One of the biggest indicators that the movie would have trouble connecting with audiences were its writers Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, who, across five released movies, have yet to garner a Fresh rating from critics on RT. Check out how Gods of Egypt’s score compares to their other movies:

Title Release Year RT Critics Score Dracula Untold 2014 25% The Last Witch Hunter 2015 18% Gods of Egypt 2016 14% Morbius 2022 15% Madame Web 2024 13%

The movie also continued an unfortunate downward trend for director Alex Proyas with critics. While his breakthrough work in 1994’s The Crow adaptation garnered widespread acclaim and his follow-up, 1998’s Dark City, went on to become a sci-fi cult classic, the years leading up to Gods of Egypt’s release saw critical reception become increasingly mixed. His 2002 dramedy Garage Days started this trend, while the Will Smith-led I, Robot and Nicolas Cage-starring Knowing were commercial hits, but critical disappointments.

One of the ultimate signs pointing towards Gods of Egypt’s impending doom was the fact that the cast was made up primarily of white actors, in spite of its titular setting and culture. This whitewashing sparked backlash both before and after the movie’s release, being considered one of multiple reasons why it went on to become a box office bomb alongside competing with the likes of Deadpool and Eddie the Eagle, and coming out during the typically quiet month of February.

Source: Pitch Meeting

Gods of Egypt The 2016 fantasy movie Gods of Egypt features Gerard Butler, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and Chadwick Boseman as ancient Egyptian deities. Brenton Thwaites stars as Bek, a mortal hero who teams up with the god Horus to save the world from the evil god Set.Director Alex Proyas Release Date February 25, 2016 Studio(s) Lionsgate Distributor(s) Lionsgate Writers Burk Sharpless , Matt Sazama Cast Brenton Thwaites , Geoffrey Rush , Rufus Sewell , Gerard Butler , Courtney Eaton , Nikolaj Coster-Waldau , Elodie Yung , Abbey Lee , Chadwick Boseman Runtime 126minutes Budget $140 million