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| Home Front: Culture Wars |
| Reboot of Ben Hur Bombs At Box Office |
| 2016-08-20 |
| Following in the footsteps of Ghostbusters... 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 cross over 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). |
| Posted by:Raj |
| #6 Was having the same thought james. True Grit comes to mind. Tears of the Sun was alright, but was a re-tread of the superior The Wild Geese. Rio Bravo and El Dorado. Avatar was a re-make of Fern Gulley, both equally terrible. Magnificent 7 and Seven Samurai. George Lucus clams A New Hope was based on The Hidden Fortress, but I don't see it. I thought Clash of the CGI Titans sucked. Red Dawn: a love story was barfable. Tron stunk like a road kill skunk. Don't get me started on the Kung Fu Karate Kid. Then there is Conan the Bed Pan. Do a search of recent movie remakes, and weep for the future. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2016-08-20 20:25 |
| #5 I'd take the later versions of the Batman series as better, less camp, than the first runs. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2016-08-20 20:17 |
| #4 So, whose idea was it, to take on Charlton Heston on a real horse? I swear, I think they are doing re-boots for the sole purpose of peeing on the rug. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2016-08-20 19:57 |
| #3 I suspect that the audience for Passion wasn't treating it as entertainment, but as a religious exercise. Kind of hard to morph that into an entertainment trend. I'm trying to think of times when a remake has been better than the original, or even as good, and drawing a blank. Maybe I don't watch enough movies. (Maybe I find less reason to part with $10 and 2 hours these days...) |
| Posted by: james 2016-08-20 19:51 |
| #2 Classic Comics version was pretty good IIRC. https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=396681 |
| Posted by: Shipman 2016-08-20 19:04 |
| #1 Butjust like the faith-based measured Paramount’s Noah against the Bible two years ago, leading to its ultimate alienation of that audience and short legs at the box office, Ben-Hur is being compared by reviewers (31% Rotten Tomatoes score) and moviegoers to the 1959 multi-Oscar winning movie. Remakes are a touchy prospect. Remakes done by an industry that has a decades-long track record of alienating its target audience doesn't help either. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2016-08-20 18:30 |