Exodus: God and Kings has had mixed reviews but it will undoubtedly be one of the biggest draws at theatres in the run-up to the holidays. 

The film is directed by Ridley Scott and stars Christian Bale as Moses, a Hebrew leading God's enslaved people out of Egypt and the clutches of Ramses, the Egyptian pharoah played by Joel Edgerton.  

It opened in theatres on Friday night and was predicted to take in over $30m on its opening weekend.  

Bale sees Moses as something of a reluctant leader.

"When he first meets with God, he says 'No. This is not me. I don't want to do this job,'" Bale told Reuters.

And it's the emotional side of the Old Testament figure that has intrigued the Oscar-winning actor, particularly the struggle with self-doubts.  

"He was a man of great passion, a great leader and a liberator, but he was somebody who also had incredible doubts and insecurities," Bale said.

"I think that makes it so much more fascinating than I had ever realised. And also, in doing that, we are telling it in a new way."

Bale has steered clear of any inflammatory comments in the run-up to the film's release, after he encountered a strong backlash when he recently described Moses as "barbaric" and "schizophrenic". 

At the time of going to press, Exodus: God and Kings has scored a lowly rating of 28 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, but has been better received among reviewers on the IMDb site, with a score of 6.6/10.

While Scott's film has impressive 3-D effects and chariot scenes, a lingering sore point for critics and cinemagoers is the casting of white actors in the main roles, a gripe which pushed Scott and the actors on the defensive in the run-up to the theatre release.

There were previously calls to boycott the movie after anger mounted over the casting of black actors in the role of the slaves and #BoycottExodusMovie became a trending topic on social media.  

Scott bluntly addressed the criticism in comments to Variety magazine: "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."