So why did producers in Hollywood decide to remake a great classic movie that originally came out in 1959? This one is easy, its all about name recognition and making money. The producers of this movie knew that most people have at least heard of Ben Hur, even if they never saw the original movie. So they thought that they would have a guaranteed level of box office because people have heard the name, Ben Hur. According to IMDB, the movie cost over 100 million dollars to make but for the opening weekend it only made 11 million. We all know that this movie will not be in the theaters for 10 weeks so odds are high this film will lose money. The problem is that the original movie is an all time movie classic that was 3 hours long, but this movie is a pale imitation of the original and only 2 hours long. The only thing worth seeing in this 2 hours is the chariot race at the end, which is better in this movie because of the technical abilities that are available now with computer effects that were not available in 1959. In the end, what makes money and what is worth going to the movies is a great original story and most ideas like this one will fail. People normally do not like remakes of classic movies even with the addition of a well-known movie star like Morgan Freeman, who is not nearly enough of a presence to rescue this film. On top of this, the scenes that were removed to reduce this film to 2 hours were some of the best scenes of the first movie. Another big mistake.
If you have not seen the original Ben Hur that came out in 1959 you should see that great movie and miss this one entirely. I would recommend trying to find the Chariot Race on YOUTUBE for this new movie.
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