Monday, October 7, 2024

Exodus $150 Mil Movie: Bad Reviews Pouring In As Moses Gets His Staff Cut, Doesn’t Part Red Sea

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Luckily, 20th Century Fox has already had a very good year– 8 movies that crossed the $100 million mark. They are currently Number 1 in market share. So a set back won’t hurt them. But Ridley Scott’s “Exodus: Gods and Kings” is shaping up as a potential bust.

So far “Exodus”—already criticized for casting all white actors–is scoring 53% 50%  now 43% on Rotten Tomatoes. And that’s being kind. Several of the reviews listed as “fresh” are mostly rotten. And more are coming in every day.

Meantime, the nearly three hour extravaganza has more problems than just white actors playing Egyptians. From all reports, Moses (Christian Bale) doesn’t part the red sea and doesn’t have a staff. Well, his only staff is in the back office cutting checks. (Parumppum!)

Don’t count on foreign audiences picking up the slack. On the imdb message board people who’ve already seen “Exodus” in South Korea have been underwhelmed. Fox will use an old trick and open the movie in 20 countries before American reviewers can really savage it. Sometimes that works.

Meantime, this Sunday’s New York premiere may be a signal. It’s being held at the Brooklyn Museum, which is in faraway Brooklyn. It’s also happening at the same time as Bradley Cooper opens in “The Elephant Man” on Broadway in Manhattan. If Moses can’t part the Red Sea, how’s he going to get people over the East River?

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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