Post by sevenofnine on Aug 20, 2016 12:14:35 GMT -5
I am not surprise after all this Ben Hur shouldn't been remade it is hard to top the 1923 versoin and the 1956 version
With an estimated production cost that’s in the vicinity of $100M, MGM and Paramount certainly didn’t build Ben-Hur to fail this weekend.
But if there’s one Come-to-Jesus from this remake’s estimated disastrous $11M opening: It’s still a challenge for Hollywood to crossover a faith-based film to the masses 12 years after the $370M ($612M global) success of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ.
Ben-Hur is the third big-budget faith-based movie from a major studio to fall from box office grace in the wake of Noah ($101.2M domestic B.O., $125M production cost) and the mighty Moses misfire Exodus: Gods and Kings ($65M domestic B.O., $140M cost).
The irony? Last year at about this time, Sony’s thrifty-priced, holy-roller title War Room made $11.3M at 1,135 venues; 63% less Ben-Hur’s 3,084 theater count. Ben-Hur‘s opening isn’t that far from where Sony’s low-budget Roman Centurion epic Risen opened on Feb. 19 with $11.8M at 2,915 locations. Ben-Hur will need to rely on the kindness of such Christian offshore territories as Latin America to raise it up, out of its red sea of ink; and that’s not an unforeseeable miracle given how these sword and sandal movies can make two-to-four times their domestic take abroad. MGM carries the bulk of Ben-Hur‘s production cross at 80%, while Paramount
!!
