海角大神

A new trailer has been released for the upcoming film, 鈥淕ods of Egypt.鈥�

鈥淕ods鈥� centers on a young man named Bek (Brenton Thwaites) who, along with the other people of Egypt, is living under the rule of the tyrannical god Set (Gerard Butler). Bek asks the god Horus (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau of 鈥淕ame of Thrones鈥�) to help.聽

As with recent films like 2010鈥檚 鈥淐lash of the Titans,鈥� 鈥淕ods鈥� looks to be light on the traditional mythology and heavy on the CGI and action scenes.

The movie is the newest evidence of pop culture鈥檚 fascination with Egypt. Stretching back to Howard Carter鈥檚 discovery of King Tut鈥檚 tomb and before then, the culture has captivated the world. This has extended to film as well.

The 1932 Boris Karloff film, 鈥淭he Mummy,鈥� was one of Universal鈥檚 hit horror films and the 1959 Hammer take on the story was similarly popular. Writers Lawrence Kasdan, George Lucas, and Philip Kaufman chose to set their 1981 throwback adventure 鈥淩aiders of the Lost Ark鈥� in Egypt, where archaeologist Indiana Jones works to keep the Nazis away from valuable antiquities. A 1999 remake of 鈥淭he Mummy,鈥� starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, became a box office hit and spawned sequels and spin-offs.聽

This new movie's take on Egyptian mythology is also in line with recent mythology adaptations like the 2010 movie 鈥淐lash of the Titans.鈥� 鈥淭itans,鈥� which is itself a remake of the 1981 film of the same name, stars actors such as Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes as Greek gods. The movie is far from a sober retelling of ancient myths, however 鈥� the movie is full of big action scenes and battle sequences. 鈥淕ods鈥� seems to be in the same mold, and it鈥檚 not surprising those behind the movie would be moving in a similar direction 鈥� the 2010 movie 鈥淐lash鈥� became a box office hit and did well enough to spawn a 2012 sequel.

Previous successes in this vein also include 2006's "300."

鈥淕ods鈥� is also following the example set by 鈥淐lash鈥� in another way. The movie based on Egyptian culture is set to be released this February, which is traditionally a quiet time at the box office. 鈥淐lash鈥� came out in April, another somewhat quiet time when it was opening opposite movies such as the animated movie 鈥淗ow to Train Your Dragon鈥� and the romantic drama 鈥淭he Last Song,鈥� films that most likely attracted very different audiences than "Clash." This led 鈥淐lash鈥� to box office success.聽

This February happens to be a bit more crowded in terms of action films, however. The movie 鈥淧ride and Prejudice and Zombies鈥� opens a couple of weeks before 鈥淕ods,鈥� as does the superhero movie 鈥淒eadpool.鈥� Similarly, the Sacha Baron Cohen comedy 鈥淭he Brothers Grimsby鈥� also looks it will have a lot of action and that opens the same weekend as 鈥淕ods.鈥� Can 鈥淕ods鈥� make itself stand out from the crowd?