Gods of Egypt is a 2016 fantasy action film directed by Alex Proyas based on a fantastical version of ancient Egyptian deities.

It stars Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Brenton Thwaites, Chadwick Boseman, Élodie Yung, Courtney Eaton, Rufus Sewell, Gerard Butler, Geoffrey Rush and Bryan Brown.

When Lionsgate began promoting the film in November 2015, it received backlash for its predominantly white cast playing Egyptian deities.

Bek takes her body to the exiled Horus along with the eye and promises to help find the other if he brings Zaya back from the dead.

Absorbing Thoth's brain, Osiris's heart, and Horus's eye and wings from Nephthys, Set confronts Ra aboard his solar barge.

Taking Ra's spear and casting him off the barge, Set frees Apophis to consume the mortal and underworld realms.

Regaining his power to transform, Horus saves Bek from falling over retrieving his eye and flies him to safety since he realizes that his true destiny was to protect his people.

Goran D. Kleut provides the motion-capture and voice of Anubis, an Egyptian god who takes the form of a Jackal and leads Zaya into the underworld.

A crew of 200 began pre-production in Sydney in New South Wales, and producers considered filming in Melbourne, Victoria, to take advantage of the state's tax incentive.

Docklands Studios Melbourne was too booked to accommodate Gods of Egypt, and producers were instead offered an airport facility for production.

New South Wales Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner estimated that the production would add 400 jobs to the state and contribute $75 million to its economy.

The previous year, the biblical epic Exodus: Gods and Kings by director Ridley Scott received similar backlash for having a white cast.

[20][nb 2] The Washington Post's Soraya Nadia McDonald also disparaged the casting practice for Gods of Egypt and said Lionsgate released the posters at an unfortunate time.

Promotion for the movie is beginning just as we're wrapping a banner year for discussions of diversity and gender pay equity in the film industry.

"[23] Deadline's Ross A. Lincoln said of the released trailer, "Casting here stands out like a sore thumb leftover from 1950s Hollywood.

Mendelson of Forbes said the apologies were "a somewhat different response" than defenses made by Ridley Scott for Exodus and Joe Wright for Pan (2015).

"[26] The Guardian's Ben Child said, "The apologies are remarkable, especially given that Gods of Egypt does not debut in cinemas until 26 February and could now suffer at the box office.

"[27] Michael Ordoña of San Francisco Chronicle said of the apologies, "That's little comfort to the nonwhite actors denied opportunities or the Egyptians who will see a pale shadow of their ancestral traditions.

Professor Todd Boyd, chairman for the Study of Race and Popular Culture at the University of Southern California, said, "The apology is an attempt to have it both ways.

"[18] Boseman, who plays the god Thoth, commenting on the whitewashing by saying that he expected the backlash to happen when he saw the script: "I'm thankful that it did, because actually, I agree with it.

He said "white-washing" was a justified concern but for his fantasy film, "To exclude any one race in service of a hypothetical theory of historical accuracy ... would have been biased."

This time of course they have bigger axes to grind – they can rip into my movie while trying to make their mainly pale asses look so politically correct by screaming 'white-wash!!!

[22] Lionsgate aired a 60-second spot for Gods of Egypt during the pre-game show of the Super Bowl 50 on February 7, 2016,[32] though they released the trailer online a day earlier.

[35] A week before the film's release, TheWrap's Todd Cunningham reported an updated forecast of $15 million for its opening weekend in the United States and Canada.

[43] Lionsgate released the film in the United States and Canada on the weekend of February 26–28, as well as in 68 other markets,[44][nb 3] including Russia, South Korea, and Brazil.

[50] The Christian Science Monitor's Molly Driscoll said the Gods of Egypt's US release was during "a traditionally quiet time at the box office".

[1] Le Vision Pictures acquired rights from Lionsgate in November 2015 to distribute Gods of Egypt in China,[55] and released the film there on March 11, 2016.

"[61] Joycelyn Noveck of the Chicago Sun Times gave the film a half star out of four, writing, "It's obvious the filmmakers were gunning for a sequel here.

Club called Gods of Egypt "overlong and very silly," and said: "A treasure trove of gilded fantasy bric-a-brac and clashing accents, Proyas' sword-and-sandals space opera is a head above the likes of Wrath of the Titans, but it rapidly devolves into a tedious and repetitive succession of monster chases, booby traps, and temples that start to crumble at the last minute.

"[64] Olly Richards of Empire was heavily critical, calling the film a "catastrophe" and "the Dolly Parton of movies, without any of the knowing wit".