# Why did Ben-Hur bomb? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 23, 2016, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-ben-hur-bomb/763702 "2016-08-23T01:04:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-ben-hur-bomb/763702/41 "2016-08-23T13:57:22Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > I saw the trailer once, despite having gone to the movies more frequently than other summers. And it didn’t make me want to see the movie, all it did was make me go “really? What’s next, The Ten Commandments, half on one weekend half the next?” FWIW, The Ten Commandments has been remade in _telenovela_ form in Brazil. Lasts only slightly longer than the film 😃 ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-ben-hur-bomb/763702/42 "2016-08-23T14:13:15Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > I haven’t seen the movie, just the trailer. But the trailer and all the buzz made it sound like the chariot race is all there is. Sort of NASChariot for the 21st century. From what I read, it supposedly has more Jesus in it than the '59 version but yeah the promo is all about the action. > [@](#): > > The difficulty is remaking a good movie and hoping to do better than the original, and usually all you get is recycling. How are they going to do better than _Ben-Hur_ - win twelve Oscars instead of only 11? That is another factor - sometimes you DO get a “definitive” remake of a story, and trying to make it “for a new generation” requires more than merely more sophisticated FX, you’d need a full reinterpretation/reboot and how the heck do you do that with a religious classic… ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-ben-hur-bomb/763702/43 "2016-08-23T14:21:48Z")
Morgan Freeman burnout. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-ben-hur-bomb/763702/44 "2016-08-23T14:34:02Z")
If only they had added vampires! ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-ben-hur-bomb/763702/45 "2016-08-23T14:40:38Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I think that the marketing direction that “Christian cinema” has taken over the past decade or so is in part to blame. In 2004, Passion of the Christ was a mainstream hit. Since then, though, the people making Christian-themed movies have overwhelmingly zoomed in on a right-wing, Protestant, conspiratorial demographic which thrives on the theme/s that Christianity is constantly under attack from Godless liberals, secularists, foreigners, and other outsiders, where it’s considered inappropriate to depict sinful or immoral deeds _even_ if to say that they’re wrong, and which primarily preaches to the choir by having the characters speak in Bible quotations and forced monologues that aren’t likely to impress anyone that isn’t already a believer. > > That’s the market that this adaptation of Ben-Hur, which at its core is _undeniably_ a Christian story, is being released into. Christian audiences aren’t going to like it because it doesn’t engage in the kind of aggressive witnessing that movies like “Left Behind” and “God’s Not Dead” do, and mainstream audiences aren’t going to buy in because they’ll be expecting a preachy movie that they don’t have time to deal with, a bog-standard adaptation of an old-ass movie their grandparents love to talk up and which they couldn’t give a shit about, or a bog-standard remake of a movie they’ve already seen and don’t need to see a remake of. (tears in eyes) That was _beautiful_. I want to subscribe to your newsletter. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-ben-hur-bomb/763702/46 "2016-08-23T14:59:20Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > To add to this, it isn’t as if Hollywood isn’t releasing non-Comic/remakes. They are. People just aren’t going to see them. > > Pop Star and Nice Guys were completely original movies…that bombed. I just checked Box Office Mojo for the top movies so far in 2016. The highest ones that weren’t remakes or sequels were _The Secret Life of Pets_ and _Zootopia_. If you ignore animated movies, the highest ones are _Central Intelligence_ and _Bad Moms_. Overall, nineteen of the movies in the top twenty-five are remakes or sequels. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-ben-hur-bomb/763702/47 "2016-08-23T15:10:01Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > To add to this, it isn’t as if Hollywood isn’t releasing non-Comic/remakes. They are. People just aren’t going to see them. > > Pop Star and Nice Guys were completely original movies…that bombed. **Free State Of Jones** : Matthew McConaughey as a Confederate Army deserter who rebels against the rebellion! Didn’t break even. **A Hologram For The King** : Tom Hanks as a washed-up American salesman trying to close a deal with Saudi royalty! Didn’t break even. **The Brothers Grimsby** : Sacha Baron Cohen as a flat-broke pubgoer who gets roped into superspy hijinks! Didn’t break even. **The Finest Hours** : Chris Pine as a Coast Guard crewman struggling to save lives at sea during a nor’easter! Didn’t break even. **Midnight Special** : Michael Shannon as the father of a boy that cultists think has special abilities! Didn’t break even. **The 33** : Antonio Banderas leading Chilean miners to safety! Didn’t break even. **By The Sea** : Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt as a couple with a marriage that’s falling apart! Didn’t break even. (Don’t confuse that last one there with **In The Heart Of The Sea** : Chris Hemsworth as a whaler in the 1800s! Does that count, or is it effectively a **Moby Dick** remake? I mean, either way, it didn’t break even; you’re just not getting a hundred million dollars back at the box office with a guy who throws a mean harpoon; stop trying to make ‘fetch’ happen, it’s not going to happen.) ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-ben-hur-bomb/763702/48 "2016-08-23T15:13:49Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Morgan Freeman burnout. A committed follower of the wise teachings of the Michael Caine “never pass up a paying gig” school 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-ben-hur-bomb/763702/49 "2016-08-23T15:14:11Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > If only they had added vampires! Don’t give them any ideas. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-ben-hur-bomb/763702/50 "2016-08-23T15:20:10Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Morgan Freeman burnout. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > What was the draw? The largest group of people who have an interest in _Ben-Hur_ are people who like the 1959 movie. But they’re not looking for a remake. Jack Huston and Toby Kebbell aren’t box office draws. The commercials show a split second shot of the star’s face and a long shot of Morgan Freeman but it’s obviously not his movie. And he is on the posters. When you feel the need to market a movie based on the 6th billed actor there is a problem. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-ben-hur-bomb/763702/51 "2016-08-23T15:22:32Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > That is another factor - sometimes you DO get a “definitive” remake of a story, and trying to make it “for a new generation” requires more than merely more sophisticated FX, you’d need a full reinterpretation/reboot and how the heck do you do that with a religious classic… I think there’s a certain… iconic-ness, or gravitas to some movies that makes them especially hard to remake- a combination of cinematic excellence and definition of a genre. The 1959 movie and the “Ten Commandments” (also starring Heston) kind of set that bar for the religious movie genre, and are going to be extremely hard to successfully remake as a result, at least for the next few decades. Some movies/stories don’t have their “Ben Hur”- look at how many Romeo and Juliet movies there have been, and the numerous loose adaptations, such as West Side Story there have been. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-ben-hur-bomb/763702/52 "2016-08-23T16:15:24Z")
I actually saw it because there aren’t many choices here in Taiwan and you take what you can. It’s really poorly directed. The story should be better and more compelling but it’s not. It just felt empty. The chariot scene wasn’t even that good. I have no idea why it was marketed so heavily to Christians. The Jesus character was completely flat. There didn’t seem to be any particular reason why Ben-Hur was that attracted to him. I can see why it bombed. I wouldn’t recommend it. ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-ben-hur-bomb/763702/53 "2016-08-23T16:15:45Z")
> [@Mighty\_Girl](#): > > Wait… There’s a new Ben-Hur? This is me! Wait, what? I opened this thread thinking that we were going to discuss why the OLD version of the movie did badly in theatres or something. > [@Bill\_Door](#): > > They took a movie that no one under sixty ever heard of and made a remake hiring a bunch of actors that no one over fifty ever heard of, and people stayed away in droves. Who could have figured? I’m only 40 and I’ve heard of it! ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-ben-hur-bomb/763702/54 "2016-08-23T16:23:14Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Morgan Freeman burnout. He’d better get an Oscar nomination. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-ben-hur-bomb/763702/55 "2016-08-23T16:25:35Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I think there’s a certain… iconic-ness, or gravitas to some movies that makes them especially hard to remake- a combination of cinematic excellence and definition of a genre. The 1959 movie and the “Ten Commandments” (also starring Heston) kind of set that bar for the religious movie genre, and are going to be extremely hard to successfully remake as a result, at least for the next few decades. > > Some movies/stories don’t have their “Ben Hur”- look at how many Romeo and Juliet movies there have been, and the numerous loose adaptations, such as West Side Story there have been. Agreed. It’d be like redoing The Godfather in ~10 years from now, or The Lord of the Rings movies in ~40 years. Why bother? You can’t improve on the iconic-ness so the new movie will always suffer. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-ben-hur-bomb/763702/56 "2016-08-23T16:41:14Z")
> [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](#): > > I did a quick check at a couple recent biblical films: > 2015 - _ **Exodus: Gods and Kings** _ - made 65 million domestic in 11 weeks > 2014 - **Noah** - made 101 million domestic in 12 weeks I saw _Noah_ in the theater and it was easily one on the short list of worst films I’ve seen on the big screen in the 21st century. I saw _Exodus_ (as much as I could of it) on HBO and it wasn’t much better. I wondered if two such bad back-to-back sandal epics hurt _Ben Hur_. Plus I hear they blatantly ripped off the pod race scene from _Phantom Menace_. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-ben-hur-bomb/763702/57 "2016-08-23T17:01:19Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > Agreed. It’d be like redoing The Godfather in ~10 years from now, or The Lord of the Rings movies in ~40 years. Why bother? You can’t improve on the iconic-ness so the new movie will always suffer. Heck, as long as we’re talking about 1959, George Clooney is the perfect age to try filling Cary Grant’s shoes in a NORTH BY NORTHWEST remake. I, uh, wouldn’t recommend that. No, not even if Martin Landau agrees to cameo. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-ben-hur-bomb/763702/58 "2016-08-23T17:27:10Z")
There were actually quite a few ads on TV for this. But it depends on the TV program and the target audience correlation. And the ads I saw were absolutely awful. When a movie can’t even put together good clips well, you’ve got a stinker on your hands. (And I still didn’t know they were doing a remake of this until a few weeks ago. Very, very bad PR for a film with this budget.) There are also virtually no name stars. Morgan Freeman in a secondary role ain’t going to draw them in. Ben-Hur himself (to me) is the weird face guy from Boardwalk Empire. So _I_ wouldn’t recognize him without the mask thing. The target demo (churchy types) generally aren’t going to big fans of either. It’s clearly supposed to be one of those low budget Christian Message movies that had a decimal misplaced in the budget. Where the money ended up is interesting question. Hollywood, of late, has been great at brushing off domestic box office disaster by pointing out how lucrative the overseas market (mainly China) is now. And I’ve actually seen people mention that this might save the film. This film? China? You’ve got to be kidding me. It’s an epic disaster movie. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-ben-hur-bomb/763702/59 "2016-08-23T18:26:30Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > The commercials show a split second shot of the star’s face and a long shot of Morgan Freeman but it’s obviously not his movie. And he is on the posters. When you feel the need to market a movie based on the 6th billed actor there is a problem. And look at Freeman’s credits. He’s never the lead. He’s the guy who supports the lead. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-ben-hur-bomb/763702/60 "2016-08-23T18:34:51Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > And look at Freeman’s credits. He’s never the lead. He’s the guy who supports the lead. Every time I see him now, I think of the black guy in _ **MAD Magazine** _’s satire of _ **The Sandpiper** _: _“I’m this film’s token Negro. I stand around saying profound things.”_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-ben-hur-bomb/763702.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-ben-hur-bomb/763702.md?page=4)