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, and Geoffrey Rush. The film follows the Egyptian god Horus, who partners with a mortal Egyptian thief, on a quest to rescue his love and to save the world from Set.^[5]

Filming took place in Australia under the film production and distribution company Summit Entertainment in conjunction with Thunder Road Pictures and Proyas' production company Mystery Clock Cinema. While the film's production budget was $140 million, the parent company Lionsgate's financial exposure was less than $10 million due to tax incentives and pre-sales. The Australian government provided a tax credit for 46% of the film's budget. When Lionsgate began promoting the film in November 2015, it received backlash for its predominantly white cast playing Egyptian deities. In response, Lionsgate and director Proyas apologized for ethnically inaccurate casting.

Lionsgate released Gods of Egypt in theaters globally, starting on February 25, 2016, in 2D, RealD 3D, and IMAX 3D, and in the United States, Canada, and 68 other markets on February 26. It received negative reviews from critics and grossed a total of $150.7 million against a $140 million budget, becoming a box office bomb and losing the studio up to $90 million. It received five nominations at the 37th Golden Raspberry Awards.

In ancient Egypt where the gods live among the mortals, King Osiris is killed by his jealous brother Set during the coronation of Osiris's son Horus. Set then defeats Horus and takes his eyes, proclaiming himself the new king, and commands mankind to pay riches to pass into the afterlife.

One year later, with most of Egypt enslaved by Set, Zaya, a slave to Set's chief architect Urshu, gives plans for Set's pyramid to her lover, Bek. Using the plans, Bek infiltrates Set's treasure vault and steals one of Horus's eyes, but he and Zaya are caught by Urshu, who kills Zaya with an arrow as she and Bek escape. Bek takes her body to the exiled Horus along with the eye, promising to help find the other if he brings Zaya back from the dead.

They visit the divine vessel of Horus's grandfather Ra. Neutral about the conflict with Set, and at war with the shadow beast Apophis that threatens to devour the world, Ra does not restore Horus's power but allows him to take a vial of divine waters to weaken Set. Ra explains that Horus's loss of his powers is the result of not fulfilling his destiny, which Horus believes means avenging his parents' deaths.

Set asks Hathor to take him to the underworld, but she refuses and joins up with Bek and Horus. They hatch a plan to infiltrate Set's pyramid, recruiting Thoth to solve the riddle of the guardian sphinx. Overcoming the pyramid's entryway and the sphinx's riddle, they reach the source of Set's power. Before they can use the divine water, they are ambushed by Set, who destroys the divine water and takes Thoth's brain, but Horus saves Hathor and Bek. Hathor calls on Anubis to take Bek to the underworld and offers her bracelet as Zaya's payment for passage to the afterlife, sacrificing herself as doing so exiles her to the underworld.

Absorbing Thoth's brain, Osiris's heart, Horus's eye and wings from Nephthys, Set confronts Ra aboard his solar barge. Ra explains Set's mistreatment were tests to prepare him to take Ra's place as defender of the world against Apophis. Dismayed, Set decides to destroy the afterlife to become immortal, using his new powers to overpower Ra. Taking Ra's spear and casting him off the barge, Set frees Apophis to consume the mortal and underworld realms.

As Apophis attacks, the gates to the afterlife are closed. Zaya, having refused Hathor's gift for not wanting an afterlife without Bek, encourages Bek to return to the mortal world and help Horus stop Set. As Horus battles Set atop an obelisk, Bek defeats and kills Urshu, before removing Horus's other eye from Set's armor, mortally wounding himself in the process and falling from the great height. Regaining his power to transform, Horus saves Bek from falling over retrieving his eye, and flies him to safety, realizing that his true destiny was to protect his people. With renewed strength, Horus outmaneuvers and kills Set. Finding Ra wounded in the aether, Horus returns his spear, allowing Ra to repel Apophis and Anubis to reopen the gates.

A child returns Horus's other eye and the god lays the deceased Bek in Osiris's tomb beside Zaya. For his deeds, Ra offers to bestow Horus with any power, and Horus asks that Bek and Zaya be brought back to life. Ra grants his wish and the other gods are restored, except Horus's parents, who had already passed into the afterlife. Horus is crowned king and declares access to the afterlife will be paid with good deeds in life. Bek is made chief advisor and gives Horus Hathor's bracelet. Horus leaves to rescue her from the underworld.

In addition: Rachael Blake plays Isis, the wife of Osiris; Emma Booth plays Nephthys, sister of Isis and wife of Set; and Lindsay Farris provides as the voice of an older Bek, who narrates the film. Yaya Deng and Abbey Lee also appear as Astarte and Anat, goddesses of war who are loyal to Set. 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.

The film drew criticism due to the fact that none of the main actors were of Egyptian descent. White actors, predominantly of northwestern European descent, make up most of the principal cast of Gods of Egypt. When Lionsgate began marketing the film, the Associated Press said the distributor received backlash for ethnically inaccurate casting. Lionsgate and director Alex Proyas both issued apologies. The AP said, "While some praised the preemptive mea culpa... others were more skeptical, concluding that it's simply meant to shut down any further backlash."^[18]

The casting practice of white actors as Ancient Egyptian characters was first reported after filming started in March 2014, when Daily Life's Ruby Hamad highlighted the practice as "Hollywood whitewashing".^[19] Lionsgate released a set of character posters in November 2015, and The Guardian reported that the casting received a backlash on Twitter over the predominantly white cast. Some suggested that the casting of black actor Chadwick Boseman, who plays the god Thoth, played into the Magical Negro stereotype. 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. She said with the release of Aziz Ansari's TV series Master of None in the previous week, "Whitewashed casting and the offensiveness of brownface has pretty much dominated the pop culture conversation this week. 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."^[21]

When Lionsgate followed its release of posters with a release of a theatrical trailer, Scott Mendelson at Forbes said, "The implication remains that white actors, even generic white actors with zero box office draw, are preferable in terms of domestic and overseas box office than culturally-specific (minority) actors who actually look like the people they are supposed to be playing." He said almost none of the actors, aside from potentially Butler, qualified as box office draws.^[22] BET's Evelyn Diaz said while Ridley Scott had defended his casting practice for Exodus by claiming the need to cast box office draws, "Gods of Egypt is headlined by character actors and Gerard Butler, none of whom will have people running to the theater on opening day."^[23] Deadline's Ross A. Lincoln said of the released trailer, "Casting here stands out like a sore thumb leftover from 1950s Hollywood. I suspect this film generates a lot of conversation before it hits theaters February 26, 2016."^[24]

In response to criticisms of its casting practice, director Alex Proyas and Lionsgate issued apologies in late November 2015 for not considering diversity; Lionsgate said it would strive to do better. 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).^[25] Ava DuVernay, who directed Selma (2014), said, "This kind of apology never happens... for something that happens all the time. An unusual occurrence worth noting."^[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."^[28] The Casting Society of America applauded the statements from Lionsgate and Proyas. 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. They want the cast that they selected and they don't want people to hold it against them that it's a white cast."^[18]

Boseman, who plays the god Thoth, commenting on the whitewashing, said he expected the backlash to happen when he saw the script. He said, "I'm thankful that it did, because actually, I agree with it. That's why I wanted to do it, so you would see someone of African descent playing Thoth, the father of mathematics, astronomy, the god of wisdom."^[29] Actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau said, "A lot of people are getting really worked up online about the fact that I'm a white actor. I'm not even playing an Egyptian; I'm an 8-foot-tall god who turns into a falcon. A part of me just wants to freak out, but then I think, 'There's nothing you can do about it.' You can't win in that sort of discussion."^[30]

In the month leading up to release, director Proyas said his film was fantasy and not intended to be history. He cited "creative license and artistic freedom of expression" to cast the actors he found to fit the roles. 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." Proyas said that films "need more people of color and a greater cultural diversity" but that Gods of Egypt "is not the best one to soap-box issues of diversity with". He argued that the lack of English-speaking Egyptian actors, production practicalities, the studio's requirement for box office draws, and Australia having guidelines limiting "imported" actors were all factors in casting for the film. He concluded, "I attempted to show racial diversity, black, white, Asian, as far as I was allowed, as far as I could, given the limitations I was given. It is obviously clear that for things to change, for casting in movies to become more diverse many forces must align. Not just the creative. To those who are offended by the decisions which were made I have already apologised. I respect their opinion, but I hope the context of the decisions is a little clearer based on my statements here."^[8] After the film was critically panned, Proyas said, "I guess I have the knack of rubbing reviewers the wrong way. 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!!!'"^[31]

• Horus § Conflict between Horus and Set
• List of fantasy films of the 2010s
• List of biggest box-office bombs
• Whitewashing in film