Ben-Hur (2016)

Judah Ben-Hur, a prince falsely accused of treason by his adopted brother, an officer in the Roman army, returns to his homeland after years at sea to seek revenge, but finds redemption.

Director:

Timur Bekmambetov

Writers:

Lew Wallace (based on the novel by), Keith R. Clarke (screenplay)

Stars:

Jack Huston, Toby Kebbell, Rodrigo Santoro

2 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jack Huston	...	Judah Ben-Hur
Toby Kebbell	...	Messala Severus
Rodrigo Santoro	...	Jesus
Nazanin Boniadi	...	Esther
Ayelet Zurer	...	Naomi Ben-Hur
Pilou Asbæk	...	Pontius Pilate
Sofia Black-D'Elia	...	Tirzah Ben-Hur (as Sofia Black D'Elia)
Morgan Freeman	...	Ilderim
Marwan Kenzari	...	Druses
Moises Arias	...	Dismas
James Cosmo	...	Quintus
Haluk Bilginer	...	Simonides (as Haluk Biligner)
David Walmsley	...	Marcus Decimus
Yasen Atour	...	Jacob
Francesco Scianna	...	Kadeem

Storyline

A Jewish nobleman, Judah Ben-Hur, and his adopted Roman brother Messala are best friends despite their different origins. Messala enlists in the Roman army and fights in the Roman Empire's wars in Germany. Ben-Hur also develops feelings for the family slave Esther although their different station in life compels him not to pursue her. But when her father Simonides seeks to marry her off to a Roman, Ben-Hur declares his love for her and takes her as his wife. Three years later, Messala returns as a decorated Roman officer. His return coincides with a rising insurrection by the Zealots, Jews who are opposed to the oppressive nature of Roman rule..

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Plot Keywords:

remake | 1st century | based on novel | palestine | remake of remake | 

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Taglines:

Mentor. Trainer. Protector.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | History

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and disturbing images

Did You Know?

Trivia

Morgan Freeman does some narrating in the beginning and end of the film. He recorded a majority of this from his home in Clarksdale, MS.

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Goofs

In the opening scene Judah and Messala are racing horses with saddles having stirrups which weren't introduced into Europe for another 700 or 800 years.

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Quotes

Jesus: Hate, anger, fear. Those are lies they use to turn you against each other. When you set aside the hate they force you to carry, that's when you know love is our true nature.

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Crazy Credits

The end credits for the director, producer and department heads are animated to look like they fly across the race track, kicking up dust as if they were horse-drawn chariots.

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Connections

Referenced in PWN: Hollywood Is Dead: PWN #10 - PART ONE (2016)

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Soundtracks

The Only Way Out
Written by Andra Day & Dave Wood
Performed by Andra Day
Produced by Dave Wood
Andra Day performs courtesy of Warner Bros. Records and Buskin Records

User Reviews

And the Oscar for the greatest screw up in a motion picture

What a dreadful effort, it took a lot of creativity for this film to be this bad. The frustrating thing they didn't even have to take a chance, the book is over a 150 years old, there was a blockbuster stage show and 2 blockbuster films, all they had to do was minorly tweak the original book, or use one of the smash-hit films as a guide. I venture to say Ben Hur is one of our great stories, it has everything, love, spectacle, honour, adventure, redemption, meaning, a moral, and even a miracle' where could you go wrong. But wrong they went and I was never so angry and disappointed at a film and it was all down to ineptitude and pure genius at incompetence I mean how could anyone spend 100 million on Ben Hur and get it so wrong, the mind boggles. I give it 4 stars as the 2 great iconic scenes of which we all know, the Naval battle and the Chariot race were quite good. But the story around those events, the iconic Ben Hur story was complete and utter motiveless drivel.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official Site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Persian Greek Arabic Latin

Release Date:

19 August 2016 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ben-Hur

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Box Office

Budget:

$100,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$11,203,815, 21 August 2016

Gross USA:

$26,410,477

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$94,061,311

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hivemind, LightWorkers Media, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

123 min 114 min (mainland china)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Dolby Surround 7.1

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1