“Exodus” claims top spot at US Box Office with $24.5 million

Biblical epic "Exodus: Gods and Kings," which stars Christian Bale as Moses rising up against the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses, claimed the top spot at the U.S. box office after it ended the three-week dominance of "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1".

"Exodus" raked in $24.5 million in its debut weekend, according to box office tracker Rentrak's Sunday estimates.

The "Hunger Games" came in distant second, earning $13.2 million. The latest release of the wildly popular series has so far earned a total of $277.4 million in its four-week run in theaters, reported the Economic Times.

With an expensive $140 million production budget, "Exodus: Gods and Kings" met expectations in its debut weekend. But it failed to live up to the precedent set by some recent biblically-themed films, including "Noah" which opened to $43.7 million in March, writes the Daily News.

Rentrak's senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian said: "I think Hollywood is learning that putting epic, biblical stories on the big screen comes at a pretty heavy price. It's not easy to do this."

Fox's domestic distribution chief Chris Aronson said he is happy about the performance of his studio's film.

"We're feeling great," Aronson said. "We came in right where our expectations were."

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak:

1. "Exodus: Gods and Kings," $24.5 million.

2. "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1," $13.2 million

3. "Penguins of Madagascar," $7.3 million.

4. "Top Five," $7.2 million.

5. "Big Hero 6," $6.1 million.

6. "Interstellar,"$5.5 million.

7. "Horrible Bosses 2," $4.6 million.

8. "Dumb and Dumber To," $2.8 million.

9. "The Theory of Everything," $2.5 million.

10. "Wild," $1.6 million.