'Ben-Hur' Premieres and the Critics Are Not Happy About It

Lately, Hollywood has boiled down to certain types of movies: comic book movies, book adaptations, movie reboots and/or remakes, whatever the powers that be think is catchier. However, with the upcoming release of Ben Hur to the public, a remake of the 1959 classic starring Charlton Heston, it has left people wondering whether remakes should still even be a thing. The critics have weighed in after a chance to see the film before the general public does and much like a lot of films that have been released this year, they just did not like it.

Trying to come out with a remake of a multi-award winning movie classic is hard, and comparisons are inevitable. Maybe that is why not many remakes actually make the cut past the critics and/or the general public. Sadly, the 2016 version of Ben Hur which stars Jack Huston, Toby Kebbell (who might have had to recover from being in another screen flop that was last year's reboot of the Fantastic 4) and Morgan Freeman, does just not live up to the standards set by the 1959 version despite the improved special effects and CGI, as well as being more religiously accurate.

According to the New York Times, "The best thing about the reimagined "Ben-Hur"--is that it delivers a contest as thunderously stirring as any action sequence from the "Fast and the Furious" franchise."

Despite the stellar performance of Morgan Freeman, the film apparently doesn't do much else to make itself stand out from the original, which was also actually a remake from the 1925 silent that featured silent-screen legend, Ramon Novarro, according to Fortune.

Compared to critical flops that were publicly praised (like Batman vs. Superman and Suicide Squad -- the latter of which this current remake is about to go against), it is unclear whether or not the movie will be able to draw in a lot of audiences, much less make the desired revenue in terms of box office sales.

Nevertheless, it still hopefully will remind the executives in Hollywood that there are movies that should remain untouched -- The Godfather, Citizen Kane the Back to the Future, as well as the Spielberg epic Jaws, according to NYDailyNews.

With the flops that were the 2015 Fantastic 4 movie, the Psycho reboot and the Point Break reboot, it goes without saying that producers should tread carefully when it comes to trying to remake a classic.

Ben-Hur premieres the 19th of August in the United States. Check out the trailer for the movie below: