A big-budget remake of Ben-Hur has had a disappointing start at the US box office, debuting at number five.
The film, which reportedly cost around $100m (£77m) to make, took just $11.4m (£8.7m) on its opening weekend.Ben-Hur is the fifth film adaption of Lew Wallace’s novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, which was published in 1880.
It was first made as a silent film in 1907, and again in 1925.The first big screen adaptation to include spoken dialogue was released in 1959, with Charlton Heston playing the lead role.The actor also lent his voice to an animated children’s adaption of the story which was released in 2003.The new film stars Jack Huston as Judah Ben-Hur, alongside Morgan Freeman and Rodrigo Santoro, who plays Jesus Christ.
