Ben-Hur, the Faith-Based Epic That Cost $100 Million to (Re)Make, Flopped at the Box Office

Ben-Hur, the remake of the classic 1959 film about a merchant living in the time of Jesus, flopped over the weekend, raking in just $11 million (and an addition $10 million worldwide), a mere dent in its $100 million budget.

It’s the latest in a string of big-budget movies that failed to captivate their intended Christian audience.

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).

Deadline points out all the outreach efforts to influential pastors. Clearly, that didn’t help.

The Christian film was beaten at the box office by a movie about sexually charged meats that lose their religion.

With all the money they put into the project, the producers might have been better off building a giant Ark.

(Thanks to Jon for the link)