Both countries have banned local cinemas from showing Ridley Scott’s biblical epic movie “Exodus: Gods and Kings” — this happening a day before the Hollywood blockbuster was due to be released in each.
Rupert Murdoch, CEO of “Exodus” distributor 21st Century Fox, tweeted last month: “Moses film attacked on Twitter for all white cast. Since when are Egyptians not white? All I know are.” And as you’d expect, reaction to his comment was widely rejected and criticized, not just here in the USA, but across the globe, helping to foster the Twitter hashtag #boycottexodusmovie.
And in a Q&A with Yahoo, published in August, director Ridley Scott dismissed the criticism, saying that he did in fact take into account race depictions when casting the film, stating: “We cast major actors from different ethnicities to reflect this diversity of culture, from Iranians to Spaniards to Arabs. There are many different theories about the ethnicity of the Egyptian people, and we had a lot of discussions about how to best represent the culture.”
Needless to say, his explanation didn’t go over well either, and was met with even more criticism, fueling the #boycott movement.
After two weeks, Exodus: Gods and Kings is still $40 million away (worldwide totals) from covering its bloated budget. It only made $8 million domestically this past weekend, a decrease of 66% from its first weekend.
If trends hold, this movie has no chance of making up its budget. Serves them right. :D
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