Ben-Hur which is this summer’s biggest box office project according to sources that told The Hollywood Reporter is expected to come in at a loss of $120 million or more.
The movie which was directed by Timur Bekmambetov the same director behind Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter had released the move in theaters on August 19th. However the movie since then has only earned a measly $54.1 million at the global box office and only pulled in $11.35 million during its weekend debut. Half of the $54.1 million was from domestic sales while they rest were worldwide. This presents an issue because it doesn’t appear that the movie will even come close to breaking $75 million worldwide which is still far from the original cost.
Ben-Hur cost nearly $100 million to produce but this does not include the insanely large marketing budget that went into the film. MGM declined The Hollywood Reporter’s comment on the exact amount lost but they did tell their stockholders it was lowering its 2016 financial forecast because of a write-down its going to take for the film.
This summer has not been particularly friendly to many other films including The BFG which only made a net profit of about $20 million. Disney’s Alice Through the Looking Glass made about $120 million in profit. However, Disney has released some hut hits including Captain America: Civil War, Zootopia, The Jungle Book, and Finding Dory.
Ben Hur seems to be the largest commercial failure though during this summer with a huge loss and the company taking a hit. On top of this both critics and fans are incredibly disappointed in it.
Also in august as a promotional event Xbox One users were able to play a free Ben-Hur game which was made to promote the movie. However, according to GameSpot “it is absolutely terrible“
