Ben-Hur

Ben-Hur is a 2016 American epic historical drama film directed by Timur Bekmambetov and written by Keith Clarke and John Ridley. It is the fifth film adaptation of the 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace following the 1907 silent short film, the 1925 silent film, the Academy Award-winning 1959 film and the 2003 animated film of the same name. It is the third version of Ben-Hur released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It has been termed a "re-adaptation", "reimagining", and "new interpretation" of the novel. The film stars Jack Huston, Toby Kebbell, Rodrigo Santoro, Nazanin Boniadi, Ayelet Zurer, and Morgan Freeman. Principal photography began on February 2, 2015, in Matera, Italy and lasted about five months, finishing in June 2015. Ben-Hur premiered on August 9, 2016, in Mexico City and was theatrically released by Paramount Pictures on August 19, 2016, in the United States in 2D, 3D, RealD 3D, Digital 3D, and IMAX 3D. It received generally negative reviews and was a box office failure, grossing $94 million worldwide against its $100 million production budget plus a large amount spent on marketing and distribution.