2014 have been a great year for Biblical or faith based films. through march and April Heaven is for Real , God's Not Dead and Son of God all surprised at the box office. More importantly though all of these were moderately budgeted and hadn't much excitement one year before.
Opening around 3,500 theaters,Exodus that retells the story of Exodus is expected to continue this winning streak. The best comparison for Exodus,though, is Darren Aronofsky's Noah. Both movies are big-budget studio productions fromwell-regarded directors(Darren Aronofsky and Ridley Scott) and starring Academy Award-winning actors in the lead roles (Russell Crowe and Christian Bale).
That movie wrapped up with $101.2 million After an impressive $43.7 million start, Since poor word of mouth clearly hearts it. That probably won't happen with Exodus.
The film has Christian Bale as Moses, hot off the Dark Knight Trilogy and another Oscar nomination for last year's American Hustle is a strong name for the general moviegoers. The director too has his own loyal fan base, though since none of these names are guaranteed ticket-seller; Fox marketing department sells the movie as an effect heavy action film, specially the massive climactic battle during the parting of the Red Sea has been a major selling point in all the commercials.
Still the movie is unlikely to open with the same number of Noah, considering the month of December is less about opening weekends and more about the holding powers, the movie still has the chance to beat the lifetime business of Noah and just like that movie overseas business will definitely be strong.
Of the negative side the film is getting poor reviews from the critics with a rotten tomatoes score of 32% which is far from the score of Noah. Add with that The Hobbit: battle of five armies which is releasing on next Wednesday will definitely cut off some business from this
Weekend prediction:
Exodus: 28 million
Top five: 9 million
