Reasons the Biblical Epic is Summers Biggest Flop Variety. Like The Lone Ranger or Battleship, Ben Hur is one of those massive box office wipe outs that defies easy comprehension. How could something go this disastrously wrong After all, 1. Ben Hur was an Oscar winning smash that remains beloved. Posters for the Charlton Heston epic proclaimed that the film offered An entertainment experience of a lifetime, and its chariot races are still considered to be a high point in action choreography. In contrast, the new Ben Hur wasnt even the entertainment experience of the third weekend of August. After debuting to a paltry 1. The BFG just breathed a huge sigh of relief. Its not for lack of trying. Related ContentA Lesson of the BenHur Debacle Movie Stars Still Matter. As always, there are lessons to be gleaned from the carnage. Here are five reasons. An index page listing Music content. Big Bad Bosses Bo Burnham Brentalfloss Classical Country Taylor Swift Electronic Aphex Twin Aviators Current 93. Tickets for Concerts, Sports, Theatre and More Online at TicketsInventory. The Lion Of Judah Movie Trailers' title='The Lion Of Judah Movie Trailers' />When it came to Ben Hur, Paramount and Metro Goldwyn Mayer didnt stint on spectacle. The partners shelled out 1. Roman Empire was at its zenith. However, the film failed to generate the same kind of excitement as the Heston epic. The filmmakers had some success attracting faith based consumers, but couldnt grow the audience beyond the devout. Kids stayed away, critics lobbed bombs, and secular consumers took a hard pass. Related Content. A Lesson of the Ben Hur Debacle Movie Stars Still Matter. As always, there are lessons to be gleaned from the carnage. Here are five reasons that Ben Hur crashed and burned. Critics Hated It. Reviewers remembered William Wylers 1. Timur Bekmambetovs attempts to Fast Furious ize the action to be ill considered and poorly conceived. The Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan dismissed the latest Ben Hur as a dull and lethargic piece of work that had little reason to exist. Varietys Owen Gleiberman labeled it sludgy and plodding, lamenting that star Jack Huston paled in comparison to Heston. The Hollywood Reporters Todd Mc. Carthy asked simply, what were they thinking And those were some of the nicer ones. It all amounted to a wretched 2. Rotten Tomatoes and a measly 3. Metacritic. Movies like this need good reviews to convert the curious into consumers these kind of notices rang alarm bells, instead of serving as invitations. The Kids Didnt Show UpBen Hur is your grandparents epic. Its a throwback to a time when The Robe, The Ten Commandments and other stories from the Bible were the hottest things on movie screens. A simpler time, before Vietnam and Watergate, i. Phones and e. Readers, Zika and Lochtegate. Still, marketing materials for the time scrambled valiantly to find the aspects of the story that wouldnt just thrill geriatrics. Television spots tried to play up Ben Hurs chariot races, boat crashes and battling armies. But warring legions and gladiatorial combat cant match the comic book movies and special effects spectacles that appeal to younger moviegoers. Its just not a movie that plays in the Instagram age. Indeed, Ben Hur had a negligible presence on social media services such as Facebook and Twitter, evidence that it could not boil down its pitch in a way that translated into likes and retweets. Watch Brave Online Free. In the end, 9. 4 of the opening weekend audience for the film was over the age of 2. Millennials. In contrast, 5. Suicide Squad was under 2. Sausage Partys debut crowd clocked in under that threshold and even Jason Bourne, a film with older appeal, boasted an opening weekend audience that was 4. Swords and Sandals Epics Are Falling Flat. The toga genre has reached its expiration date. Its been 1. 6 years since Gladiator stormed movie theaters, racking up 4. Oscar. At the time it seemed as though Maximus and company might trigger renewed interest in the costume epic, but attempts to recreate the magic of the Colosseum have failed to connect with audiences. Its sort of like the Western, said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at com. Score. It has its fans, but its just too small a group of fans. Kingdom of Heaven, Exodus Gods Kings, Gods of Egypt, Noah, Seventh Son and The Immortals are just a few of the historical action flicks or costumed fare that have landed with a thud or struggled to turn a profit. There have been a few hits, to be sure. Yet the likes of 3. Clash of the Titans arent successful enough to paper over all that red ink. Plus, recreating the Ancient World doesnt come cheap. Missing the mark can result in a big write down. Muddled MarketingBen Hur made a concerted effort to attract religious moviegoers, hosting taste maker screenings for faith based leaders and crafting commercials that talked up the films connection to Biblical teachings. Paramount and Metro Goldwyn Mayer also leaned heavily on producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, the team behind Son of God and The Bible, to make the case to the EWTN set. In some respects, their efforts paid off. Ben Hur performed better in the South and Southwest than in the Northeast and the West Coast, where communities are less church oriented. They made this very expensive movie for a very small audience, said a rival studio executive. They were banking too heavily on that faith based audience. It was big miss. Other analysts believe that Ben Hur relied too heavily on out dated forms of outreach. In 2. 00. 4, The Passion of the Christ established a template for marketing to values audiences by earning the buy in of mega pastors. In the ensuing decade, however, that kind of endorsement may not be enough. Todays values customer one in every three moviegoers in the U. S. is younger and more digitally savvy than the general audience, said Matthew Faraci, president of Inspire Buzz, an agency that specializes in marketing to values based consumers. As such, they expect highly targeted, authentic marketing that speaks to who they are and what they care about. But Ben Hurs problems went beyond that. The film also had difficulty appealing to secular audiences. It hoped that the action scenes would be so propulsive that the film could attract the devout, the indifferent and the atheistic. Alas, it was not to be. Their first campaign was not that Christian based, said Jeff Bock, a box office analyst with Exhibitor Relations. Then in the last few weeks they went full bore after that group. But when you pull that Evangelical card, you turn off a lot of the audience. Audiences Crave Something Fresh. After a summer where franchises and reboots have suffered diminishing returns, audiences in recent weeks have been embracing anything that seems new and original. To be sure, that doesnt leave a lot of options. But Suicide Squad, based on a lesser known comic book Sausage Party, a raunchy parody of childrens movies and The Secret Life of Pets, a warm hearted salute to furry companions, have all succeeded because they are a breath of fresh air in an atmosphere that is sequelfied to the point of stultification. In contrast, Independence Day Resurgence, Star Trek Beyond, Jason Bourne, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Out of the Shadows and Ghostbusters are just a few of the recent follow ups and re imaginings that have failed to keep pace with their predecessors or spun out completely. The bar is just much higher now for consumers in terms of supporting sequels or remakes, said Rob Moore, Paramounts vice chairman. Audiences want something that is either great or original, he added. In the case of Ben Hur, they got neither one of those things.