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<\/a><\/p>\nBen-Hur<\/b><\/i> turned out to be an even bigger flop than many people expected this week.<\/p>\n
Three weeks ago<\/a>, it was reported that the film was on track to gross $14-15 million in its first weekend \u2014 an \u201calarmingly\u201d low opening for a film that cost around $100 million to make. But it turns out that even those estimates were optimistic, as the film is now estimated to have grossed a mere $11.4 million since Thursday night<\/a>.<\/p>\n To put this in perspective, that\u2019s less than the $11.8 million that Risen<\/a><\/i> opened to back in February<\/a> \u2014 and that<\/i> Bible-themed film cost only $20 million to produce.<\/p>\n Risen<\/i> could also claim bragging rights as the top-grossing new movie at the box office when it opened, but Ben-Hur<\/i> can\u2019t even claim that<\/i> much, as it fell behind the arms-dealer comedy War Dogs<\/b><\/i> ($14.3 million), which landed in third place, and the animated Kubo and the Two Strings<\/b><\/i> ($12.6 million), which came in fourth.<\/p>\n Ben-Hur<\/i> currently ranks fifth for the weekend, but it could slip down to sixth place, behind Pete\u2019s Dragon<\/i>, when the final figures come in tomorrow.<\/p>\n Vulture<\/a><\/i> writer Kevin Lincoln says Ben-Hur<\/i> won\u2019t necessarily be the biggest flop of the summer \u2014 that could end up being The BFG<\/a><\/i>, which cost $140 million and grossed only $108.9 million worldwide \u2014 but if foreign audiences don\u2019t turn out for Ben-Hur<\/i> the way they did for Warcraft<\/a><\/i> and other underperformers, it could be close.<\/p>\n Ben-Hur<\/i>\u2019s opening would actually not be that bad if it were just a niche \u201cfaith-based<\/a>\u201d film; it currently ranks seventh among the opening weekends within that genre:<\/p>\n The thing is, every other film in that ten-best-openings list cost less than $30 million to produce \u2014 a few of them cost as little as $2-3 million! \u2014 whereas Ben-Hur<\/i> was supposed to be a big-budget tentpole that appealed to a wide audience.<\/p>\n Also worth noting: Ben-Hur<\/i> had one of the smallest per-screen averages of any Bible-themed movie that has opened in wide release within the past thirty-five years:<\/p>\n Ben-Hur<\/i> opened in 23 countries overseas<\/a> and earned another $10.7 million there. It was reportedly especially popular in Mexico and Brazil<\/a>, i.e. the two countries that held premieres for the film before its American premiere. (One of the film\u2019s co-stars \u2014 Rodrigo Santoro, who plays Jesus \u2014 is from Brazil, which probably helped.)<\/p>\n\n
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