Ben-Hur re-remake (2016)

The Huston family has produced three generations of stars. Time for Jack to step up to the plate.

 

But the old one didn't have CGI and wasn't in 3D. Just saw the trailer; it looks to me like an all-out action movie with old wise man Morgan Freeman giving it the gravitas movies like this one needs.

 

Loved Ben. Hated Hur.

 

The trades are already predicting it's gonna be a bomb...

Box Office: 'Ben-Hur' Tracking for Alarming $14M-$15M U.S. Debut »
‘Ben-Hur’ remake shaping up to be box-office bomb: report »

 

They should have made it silent like the Original from 1925!! lol

 

We went to the movies yesterday in Gouda to see the new Star Trek film. I saw an ad on a wall mentioning Ben Hur was going to be playing there. I told my partner, "Hey, that would be great to see it on the big screen" (thinking it was the 50's film). We sat in our seats and then saw the trailer for this new version. I said/whispered, "On second thought, nope".......

 

I'll pass.

 

It's amazing how popular the Lew Wallace novel was back in the 19th century. Sold more copies than Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin", itself a massive best seller on both sides of the Atlantic. Did very well on the stage too, once Wallace was persuaded to portray Jesus with a beam of light, seen by more than 20 million people. I doubt it will do good box office with this version, although church goers may be persuaded to go to movies which many avoid, if they come up with a good marketing plan like Mel Gibson's film had.

 

Yeah, shot in digital no less. Why would I see some crappy pixelated de-saturated version of this story when I can watch the one shot in ULTRA PANAVISION? Funny how it seems like we're going backwards in cinematography.

 

Cool! I hear the chariots now have Bluetooth.

 

And GPS! (re-calculating!)

 

No. Not another unnecessary remake again.

 

Ya know, it's funny how we expect the Corporate Hollywood Moguls to have some sense of taste, class & respect. Sooner of later you just know they're gonna try & remake _____.

 

Yeah. The only one major flick this year I can think of that has some amount of the three things you mentioned was Zootopia and if cute cartoon animals are the best you've got, then you know something's amiss. I mean, the movie's good and all but try harder.

 

DuckTales!

 

I sure hope it does bomb. Because it looks bad.

 

Here's a question for you: Why remake a movie that was cheesy and historically inaccurate to begin with. I sincerely hope it bombs big time.

 

I dunno. I think the trailer has moments. But I also think that it's very, very hard to push modern audiences towards a long, historical costume drama from the biblical era -- with or without action sequences. God of Egypt had a similar problem and it wasn't a remake, and that was an enormous bomb.

Naw, I just saw the 4K remaster of Ben Hur (in HD) in the last six months, and I enjoyed it very much. As long as you have the mindset to understand you're watching a 1959 film made with 1959 technology and 1959 sensibilities, it's fine. It is what it is. I'm not looking for totally accuracy -- I just want it to be entertaining and tell me a story. (And I'm also not convinced we know the real history of that era anyway, since it was 2000 years ago.)

 

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Just watched the trailer and man oh man. Watching it I was struck with how modern trailers all sound like they're edited using the same WHOOSH-BOOM sound everytime they change scenes to make it sound oh so epic and bad ass. And what's sad is it works on the masses who eat that s*** up. And again, I'm not just taking about Ben Hur, a ton of trailers do it and it drives me frickin' NUTS.

 

Money money money money money money.

I believe there is now a federal requirement for a certain percentage of "whoosh-boom" sound effects in every modern mix.

 

Old one was in MGM Camera 65, 6 track analog magnetic sound, and way more impressive than CGI, 3D, Dolby Atmos, or LieMax ever will be on a screen with more grandeur than modern screens, and real pro projectionists who knew presentation excellence. No way today's movie budgets can duplicate that spectacle of spectacles and deliver a Real Movie Event. One which people dressed up to attend and paid very high prices to see in Roadshow original runs. Can't top that era, when men were men and movies told real stories and had budgets which could bankrupt movie company empires.

 

Lots of money to lose! Another smart Hollywood studio decision...

 

Here's my problem with the Hollywood movie machine: Rehashed stories from movies being made over and over again. Add horrendous amounts of CGI, surround sound coming out of your ass****, minimal story line with hideous dialog and you end up with a piece of s**t! And yet they cry, cry cry while people lose their jobs. It's been going on way too long. Yet people complain about their cable/satellite bills which, with much discretion, provide much more intelligent programming at a fraction of the price. I'm not paying theater prices just for over-the-top visuals and sound. I can get quality entertainment at home for much less.