‘Gods of Egypt’ becomes year’s first big-budget bomb at the box office

Looks like the God of Darkness fell upon the opening-day box office for “Gods of Egypt.�

Lionsgate’s hopes for a mythical franchise set in ancient Egypt were dashed heading into the Oscars weekend on Friday, as the swords-and-sandals epic starring Gerard Butler as Set, the God of Darkness, bombed with an estimated premiere haul of $4.76 million, for a less-than-godlike $1,527 per-screen average.

That likely will translate into a three-day gross of $14 million in domestic box office — a puny figure for a movie estimated to have totaled $140 million in production costs. Thankfully for Lionsgate, tax credits from Australia, where shooting took place, plus foreign pre-sales will reduce the studio’s exposure to losses.

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Long before its release, “Gods of Egypt� attracted scorn from many quarters for using mostly white actors to play Egyptian characters. Reviewers also refused to bow down to the film; “Gods� earned a scathing score of 23 out of 100 on the critics’ aggregation site Metacritic. Moviegoers on Cinemascore, usually lenient graders, gave the film an unimpressive “B minus� rating.

“Gods of Egypt� had to settle for a No. 2 bow on Friday, behind Fox’s smash-hit “Deadpool,� which piled on $8.95 million starting its third week of release for a cume of $263 million.

Two other major premieres also saw underwhelming box office numbers.

“Triple 9,� the thriller from Open Road Films, jockeyed for third place with just $2.14 million, for a subpar $970 per-screen average.

Audiences likewise failed to root for “Eddie the Eagle,� Fox’s feel-good sports movie starring Hugh Jackman. “Eddie� went downhill, with a $1.93 million take, landing in the No. 6 spot.

Among notable holdovers, Fox’s “Kung Fu Panda 3� earned $1.95 million for the No. 4 spot, boosting its total past $121 million, just grazing past Sony/Columbia’s actioner “Risen,� landing in fifth with $1.94 million ($17.6 million).

“The Revenant,� the outback period epic from Fox starring Leonard DiCaprio, is the lone Oscar contender for Sunday’s show among the top 10. It added just under $1 million, for a cume that now stands at more than $167 million.

Twitter: @scottcollinsLAT

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