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From acclaimed director Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Prometheus) comes the epic adventure Exodus: Gods And Kings, the story of one man’s daring courage to take on the might of an empire. Using state of the art visual effects and 3D immersion, Scott brings new life to the story of the defiant leader Moses (Christian Bale) as he rises up against the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses (Joel Edgerton), setting 400,000 slaves on a monumental journey of escape from Egypt and its terrifying cycle of deadly plagues.

The film is written by Adam Cooper & Bill Collage and Jeffrey Caine and Steven Zaillian.

Starring Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, John Turturro, Aaron Paul, Ben Mendelsohn, Sigourney Weaver, and Ben Kingsley, Exodus: Gods And Kings opens December 12, 2014.

Wamg invites you to enter for a chance to win passes (Good for 2) to the advance screening of Exodus: Gods And Kings on Thursday, December 11th at 7Pm in the St.

Frank Yablans was president of Paramount during some of the studio’s most golden years from 1971 to 1975. Working under notorious owner Charlie Bludhorn, Yablans’ tenure included such Oscar winners and nominees as The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, Serpico, Paper Moon, Chinatown and Murder On The Orient Express. He died peacefully in his sleep of natural causes this morning, his son, ICM Partners’ Eddy Yablans, told Deadline.

Frank Yablans worked in his early years for Warner Bros, The Walt Disney Company and Filmways and joined Paramount in the late 60s where he spearheaded marketing for Arthur Hiller’s Ryan O’Neal/Ali MacGraw tearjerker Love Story before ascending to the presidency. After leaving Paramount, he went on to a successful career as a producer/exec producer on such films as Richard Pryor/Gene Wilder comedy Silver Streak and Brian De Palma’s The Fury. He also wrote and produced such...

Aside from Christian Bale's psychoanalysis of Moses, the most controversial aspect about Ridley Scott's upcoming Biblical epic "Exodus: Gods and Kings" is that for a film set in ancient Egypt, it boasts a surprisingly caucasian cast including Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, Sigourney Weaver and Aaron Paul. The film does boast a handful of actors of color like Ben Kingsley, Dar Salim and Indira Varm in smaller roles.

In a new Variety profile piece on 76-year-old Scott about the film, he was asked about the issue and revealed that he never even considered hiring non-white actors for the film. Why? Financing:

"I can't mount a film of this budget, where I have to rely on tax rebates in Spain, and say that my lead actor is Mohammad so-and-so from such-and-such. I'm just not going to get it financed. So the question doesn't even come up."

Biblical films have generally...

<< Back to Holiday 2014 ForecastExodus: Gods and KingsRelease Date: December 12th (3D)Studio: 20th Century FoxGenre: DramaDirector: Ridley ScottWriters: Adam Cooper & Bill Collage and Jeffrey Caine and Steven ZaillianCast: Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, Ben Kingsley, Aaron Paul, Sigourney Weaver, John Turturro, Ben Mendelsohn, Indira VarmaStudio Description: The defiant leader Moses rises up against the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses, setting 600,000 slaves on a monumental journey of escape from Egypt and its terrifying cycle of deadly plagues.Analysis: Exodus: Gods and Kings arrives in theaters less than nine months after director Darren Aronofsky's Noah, which wrapped up its run at the domestic box office with $101.2 million. It's likely that Ridley Scott's big-budget retelling of the Exodus story tops that number, though it's hard to say by how much.The two movies share a number of similarities. Both explore well-known Old Testament stories that aren't specific to one religion or another: Moses and...

With summer starting to wrap up (after "Guardians Of The Galaxy" in two weeks, blockbusters get considerably thinner on the ground), it's time to start looking even further ahead to big movies planned for the fall, or even for next summer. And happily, with Comic-Con just around the corner, the studios have obliged, releasing a slew of images for some new upcoming movies. First up is "Exodus: Gods & Kings," Ridley Scott's first attempt at the Biblical epic. The first live-action big-screen version of the story of Moses since "The Ten Commandments," Scott's picture is taking the big-budget "Gladiator"-style approach, but has drawn controversy due to casting Caucasian actors in Jewish and Egyptian roles, and for casting Australian actor Joel Edgerton as a tangerine with eyebrows drawn on with a magic marker. Christian Bale, Aaron Paul, Ben Kingsley, John Turturro, Sigourney Weaver, Ben Mendelsohn and Indira Varma star alongside Edgerton,...

Exodus

Director: Ridley Scott

Writers: Bill Collage, Adam Cooper, Steve Zaillian

Producers: Peter Chernin, Mark Huffam, Michael Schaefer, Ridley Scott

U.S. Distributor: 20th Century Fox

Cast: Aaron Paul, Christian Bale, Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley, Joel Edgerton, John Turturro, Indira Varma, Ben Mendelsohn, María Valverde, Emun Elliott, Golshifteh Farahani, Dar Salim, Ghassan Massoud, Hiam Abbass

Sure, people are bound to be bent out of shape about the very non-Egyptian casting of its leads, but since we’re talking about mythology and Scott is a vocal agnostic, it seems rather fitting. Beyond what we assume will be yet another memorably committed performance from Bale, and a big budget role for Aaron Paul, Scott reunites with his Alien star Sigourney Weaver for the third outing, this time as the Egyptian Queen, Tuya (let’s hope it’s a better union than 1492: Conquest of Paradise in which she starred as Queen Isabella...

Ridley Scott has big plans for his Exodus movie. Forget The Ten Commandments, Scott is aiming for the same scope as Darren Aronofsky's upcoming Noah and has assembled one hell of a cast for his Biblical epic focused on Moses leading the Jewish people from Egypt. On top of the already cast Christian Bale and Joel Edgerton as Moses and Pharoah Ramses II respectively, Scott is close to signing Ben Kingsley, Sigourney Weaver, Aaron Paul, and John Turturro. According to Deadline, Turturro and...

Promenade Pictures, the production company founded four years ago by former studio head Frank Yablans with a focus on family entertainment, said Thursday that it will enter U.S. theatrical distribution Oct. 26 by releasing the 3-D CGI-animated feature The Ten Commandments.

The film is the first in a 12-picture series billed as Epic Stories From the Bible, which Promenade is producing with New Zealand-based Huhu Studios and Singapore-based iVL Animation as partners. Promenade will market and distribute all of the films theatrically in the U.S. while retaining worldwide rights. Upcoming films in the franchise will be announced in the coming months.

Promenade president and COO Cindy Bond said the company will distribute four to six films a year, a mix of wide releases as well as niche platform titles. It will distribute its own slate of features as well as acquisitions from indie filmmakers working in the $5 million-$20 million range.

The Ten Commandments, directed by Bill Boyce and John Stronach from a screenplay by Ed Naha, includes the voice talents of Ben Kingsley, who serves as narrator, Christian Slater (Moses), Alfred Molina (Ramses) and Elliott Gould (God).