Ben-Hur Remake Suffers Grim Weekend at the US Box Office

The movie, which cost around $100 million to produce, collected just $11.4 million across the US and Canada during its opening weekend.

Paramount Pictures’ resurrection of the 1959 biblical epic opened in fifth place with weekend sales of $11.4 million in US and Canadian theaters, researcher ComScore Inc. said. (Please note that number doesn’t include marketing.) Granted, the movie could still perform well overseas. And it’s despite attempts to woo religious audiences, notes the Wall Street Journal.

Even with producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey (The Bible) and a sizable role for Jesus, Ben-Hur couldn’t attract faith-driven moviegoers to support the retelling of the 1959 classic, which won 11 Academy Awards, including best picture.

Ben-Hur also didn’t fare well critically, notching a score of 37 on Metacritic and 28 percent on Rotten Tomatoes (though it earned a positive review from V.F.). The film grossed $ 65 million in revenue for a budget of 19 million.

Paramount Vice Chairman Rob Moore said harsh critical reviews likely weighed on the “Ben-Hur” box office, especially in a summer that has seen audiences underwhelmed by new takes on familiar material such as “Independence Day: Resurgence” and “Ghostbusters”.

Will Hollywood turn to-gasp!-original ideas out of sheer desperation?

Still, fueled by “Suicide Squad” and “Sausage Party“, the box office was up more than 22 percent over the same weekend past year, according to comScore.

“War Dogs“, the first movie after “The Hangover” trilogy for director Todd Phillips, was lambasted by critics, but it sold a decent $14.3 million in ticket sales.

The historical blockbuster flopped spectacularly compared to Suicide Squad ($A27.2 million in the United States on the weekend) and Sausage Party ($A20.1 million). “Ben-Hur” received an “A-” and “War Dogs” got a “B”.

The financial picture did not look rosier on the worldwide front: Ben-Hur opened in 23 markets, grossing $10.7 million.

Since it opened three weeks ago, the movie has earned $262.3 million.

The runaway hit of the back half of the summer has been The Secret Life of Pets which landed in ninth place this weekend with an estimated $5.7M, bringing its total up to an astounding $346M, surpassing Disney’s Zootopia to become the fifth highest grossing film of the year domestically. “No major movie wants to open wide outside the top five”, says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for comScore.

Ben-Hur is the latest movie to be branded a box office bomb after a disastrous opening weekend in the US.