Exodus: Gods and Kings Budget

What is the budget of Exodus Gods and Kings?

"Exodus Gods and Kings," an adventure released in 2014, was directed by Ridley Scott and stars Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton. The production budget was $140,000,000, placing it in the high-budget range for adventure productions of its era.

Key Budget Allocation Categories

While specific budget breakdowns are not publicly available, typical cost drivers for an adventure production like this include:

• Stunts, Action Sequences & Visual Effects: Action films allocate a substantial portion of their budget to choreographing and executing practical stunts, pyrotechnics, and CGI-heavy sequences.
• Above-the-Line Talent (Cast & Director): A-list talent commands significant upfront fees plus backend participation.
• Production Design, Sets & Locations: Action films frequently require multiple international shooting locations, large-scale set construction, vehicle acquisitions and modifications, and specialized equipment , all of which drive production costs well above those of dialogue-driven genres.

What were the major cost factors in Exodus Gods and Kings?

Several factors contributed to the overall production costs of "Exodus Gods and Kings."

• Stunts: Stunts, Action Sequences & Visual Effects is one of the primary cost drivers in adventure productions of this scale.
• Above-the-Line Talent (Cast: Above-the-Line Talent (Cast & Director) is one of the primary cost drivers in adventure productions of this scale.
• Production Design: Production Design, Sets & Locations is one of the primary cost drivers in adventure productions of this scale.

How Does Exodus Gods and Kings's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

At $140,000,000, Exodus Gods and Kings sits in the high-budget range. Here is how it compares to productions with a similar budget:

• Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018): Budget $140,000,000, Worldwide Gross $622,674,139
• Armageddon (1998): Budget $140,000,000, Worldwide Gross $553,799,566
• Captain America: The First Avenger (2011): Budget $140,000,000 , Gross $370,569,774
• Die Another Day (2002): Budget $142,000,000, Worldwide Gross $431,971,116
• Barbie (2023): Budget $145,000,000, Worldwide Gross $1,447,138,421

The median budget for wide-release adventure films in the 2010s ranges from $30 to 80M for mid-budget to $150M+ for tentpoles.

Exodus Gods and Kings Box Office Performance

"Exodus Gods and Kings" earned $65,014,513 domestically and $268,031,828 worldwide at the box office. Against a production budget of $140,000,000, the film showed modest profitability in theatrical release.

A film typically needs to earn approximately twice its production budget to cover marketing and distribution costs. For "Exodus Gods and Kings," that break-even threshold was roughly $280,000,000. With worldwide earnings of $268,031,828, the film fell short of that threshold but recouped its production costs in theatrical release.

• Production Budget: $140,000,000
• Worldwide Gross: $268,031,828
• Net Return: $128,031,828
• ROI: approximately 91.5%

At 91.5%, "Exodus Gods and Kings" returned its production investment but margin was tight after marketing and distribution costs.

Awards and Recognition

6 nominations total

Exodus: Gods and Kings Production History

Exodus: Gods and Kings was developed at Twentieth Century Fox as part of director Ridley Scott's late-career interest in scale-driven historical epics, building on the model of his earlier Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven. Scott commissioned a screenplay that passed through several writers, including Adam Cooper, Bill Collage, Jeffrey Caine, and Steven Zaillian. Scott Free Productions and Babieka co-produced, with Fox financing roughly $140 million in production costs.

Principal photography began in September 2013 in Almería, Spain, where a massive Memphis exterior had been constructed in the Tabernas Desert. Additional photography took place in the Canary Islands and on soundstages at Pinewood Studios outside London in the United Kingdom. The production used a combination of practical sets, large casts of extras, and extensive computer generated imagery for the parting of the Red Sea, the plagues, and the chariot pursuit sequences. The Industrial Light and Magic shot count exceeded 1,800 effects shots.

The casting of Christian Bale as Moses, Joel Edgerton as Ramses, and other principal roles drew sustained public criticism for the absence of Middle Eastern and North African actors in lead parts. Scott publicly defended the casting decisions on financing grounds, and the controversy continued through the marketing campaign and after release. The picture was released theatrically on December 12, 2014, and was banned in Egypt, Morocco, and the United Arab Emirates for what local censors called historical inaccuracies.

Critical Reception

Exodus: Gods and Kings holds a 33 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metacritic score of 52. CinemaScore audiences awarded the film a B, indicating mixed but not hostile reception among paying audiences. Manohla Dargis of The New York Times described the picture as "a sprawling, sometimes incoherent biblical canvas" that nonetheless contained "individual sequences of striking force." Justin Chang at Variety wrote that Scott had assembled "considerable cinematic muscle" without finding "a way to dramatize the spiritual core of the Exodus story." Robbie Collin in The Daily Telegraph awarded three stars and praised the visual effects work on the plagues. Critics including A.O. Scott of The New York Times and Tim Robey of The Telegraph specifically criticized the casting choices and noted that the white casting decisions distracted from the picture's narrative goals. The film also drew sustained criticism from religious scholars and faith communities for theological alterations, most notably the depiction of God as a young boy. Scott and Bale defended the choices in press interviews around the release.