The box office numbers were quite appalling. Suicide Squad, Sausage Party (!!:eek:!!), War Dogs, Kubo and the Two Strings, and Pete’s Dragon, in that order, were on top of it for the first weekend. Ye gods.
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.
Are you under the impression that people under 50 still watch network TV? Or ever did, for those under 30?
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?”
Go see Kubo and the Two Strings.
We saw the trailer the last time we went to the movies. As somebody who watched the Charlton Heston version every Easter weekend with my mother (it was one of our traditions) since I was a kid, I was mortified that someone had even thought to do a remake.
I could’ve written most of kiz’s post, except I watched Ben Hur with my dad and still watch it every time it comes on tv (plus I own the blu-ray). I was horrified at the thought of today’s Hollywood getting their hands on it.
Also, I’m well under the age of 60.
Huh! I did, back when I was in high school.
I saw the adverts on TV and was immediately put off by (a) the phrase “Are we having fun yet?” and (b) freakin’ Morgan Freeman in the Hugh Griffith role.
The Heston version was a remake too.
Hey I watch network TV and I’m under 50! For another 50-odd days anyway.
I saw the trailer, and what put me off was the soundtrack of modern pop music. I can sort of understand doing that sort of thing with films like Moulin Rouge! and A Knight’s Tale, but it seemed particularly jarring for a serious, pseudo-Biblical epic. Can anyone who’s seen the film confirm whether this soundtrack is used in the film itself? (I’m kind of hoping that this was a case of the real score not yet being ready in time for the trailers.)
True, but it’s obvious what such a remake could add that the 1925 version simply didn’t have. Color. Sound. A wide aspect ratio. It’s not obvious what a modern adaptation of the novel can add, other than to remove all the practical effects with CG.
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.
I don’t like remakes in general. Hollywood does it because they think there is a built-in audience. 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?
It was released in August. Did the marketing folks just realize they had a bomb on their hands and give up hope altogether?
Regards,
Shodan
I’ve seen 3-5 movies over the past month - seems like just about all of the trailers were for remakes (with the exception of Matt Damon fighting off dragons in ancient China - WTF???) Of course, at east one of the flicks I watched was the Ghostbusters redo…
Exactly. Ben-Hur trailers were “ho-hum, another re-make”; Kubo trailers were interesting. Mrs Piper turned to me after the first time we saw a Kubo trailer a couple of months ago and said “I want to see that.”
I saw one advertisement for it about two weeks ago and can’t remember if that was a commercial or a theater trailer. In fact, when I saw it I assumed it was for early buzz on a movie being released this winter since it seemed like a big production and I was just hearing about it.
Also what no one has mentioned was that it was directed by Timur Bekmambetov, the director of Night Watch, Wanted, and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. I really enjoyed Night Watch and Wanted, haven’t seen Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, but based on his previous work I wouldn’t expect that his style would quite fit with a Biblical epic. Based on the reviews it seems like I was right.
That’s not nothing, but I’d wager that only a fraction of the audience are paying attention to those behind the scenes features. Many still haven’t even gone into the theater yet when those start, and the people in their seat are still talking to their friends or playing with their phones.
There was a surprising lack of marketing. Even if the movie was being heavily marketed to church groups like I assume it was, that alone wouldn’t bring in enough money to make it profitable.
I’m not sure how to parse this response. Are you saying this is proof that Hollywood CAN do worse, or that it can do so much better?
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.