Nearly a decade after it face-planted in theaters, Gods of Egypt is getting the exact kind of second act Hollywood loves: the “wait… people are actually watching this?” streaming rebound. The 2016 fantasy epic, directed by Alex Proyas and starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Gerard Butler, Brenton Thwaites, and Chadwick Boseman, recently climbed Netflix’s charts after landing on the service, giving the movie a fresh audience that’s treating it less like prestige cinema and more like a loud, glossy, mythological roller coaster.
When Gods of Egypt first arrived, it wasn’t just disliked; it was broadly dismissed. Entertainment Weekly notes it cost a reported $140 million and earned only about $31 million domestically, with critics largely panning it (including a very low Rotten Tomatoes score cited in the same reporting). The movie’s pitch is simple and very “2010s blockbuster”: the god Horus loses control of Egypt to Set, and a mortal thief gets dragged into a divine power struggle that turns into a quest filled with giant gods, magical weapons, and end-of-the-world spectacle. Netflix’s own synopsis frames it the same way, Horus teams up with a human thief to save humankind after Set seizes power.
So why is it suddenly popping on Netflix now? Because streaming audiences don’t behave like theatrical audiences. A film that felt like an expensive misfire in 2016 can become easy “background blockbuster” viewing in 2025—especially one that’s visually maximalist, relentlessly sincere, and kind of camp if you watch it with the right expectations. EW describes the film as gaudy, silly, and old-school in its sword-and-sandal vibe, and that’s basically the appeal: it’s big, weird, and unbothered by subtlety.
It’s also impossible to talk about Gods of Egypt without mentioning the controversy that followed it well before release. The casting drew heavy criticism for whitewashing and a lack of diversity in major roles, leading both the director and the studio to publicly apologize at the time. That debate became part of the film’s identity, and for many viewers it remains a central reason the movie’s “rediscovery” comes with a lot of side-eye.
There’s another wrinkle if you’re trying to watch it right now: Netflix availability is region-specific and can change fast. Netflix’s official “What’s leaving Netflix” list for December 2025 included Gods of Egypt as a title leaving on December 7 (in at least some regions), which means the movie’s streaming resurgence may have also been boosted by a “watch it before it’s gone” effect. At the same time, Netflix’s own title page shows it still available in some locales, so your best move is to search directly in your Netflix app (since licensing varies by country).
Gods of Egypt didn’t suddenly become a “misunderstood masterpiece.” What changed is the context. On Netflix, it plays like a flashy, unserious fantasy sprint, one that some viewers are happy to embrace for the spectacle, the chaos, and the “how did this get made like this?” energy. And for a movie that was written off in 2016, that kind of messy streaming redemption is about as close to immortality as it’s going to get.
