Ben Hur

BEN HUR FILM. 1959 MGM American historical drama film epic directed by William Wyler. At the time the project had the largest budget ($15 million USD) and the largest sets built for any film ever. There was a staff of 100 wardrobe fabricators making the costumes and a workshop employing 200 workmen provided the hundreds of friezes and statues needed in the film. Filming commenced on May 18th 1958 and wrapped on January 7th 1959, with shooting often lasting for 12-14 hours a day, six days a week. More than 200 camels and 2,500 horses were used in the shooting of the film, along with some 10,000 extras. The nine-minute chariot race has become one of cinema's most famous sequences. Following a $14 million USD marketing effort, Ben Hur premiered in New York on November 18th 1959. It was the fastest-grossing as well as the highest grossing film of 1959 (in the process becoming the second-highest grossing film in history at the time after Gone With The Wind). The winner of a then record 11 Academy Awards including ; Best Film / Best Director / Best Leading Actor and Best Supporting Actor. This accomplishment that was not equaled until the 1997 film Titanic. It is widely considered to be one of the greatest films ever made, to date taking over $150 million USD in worldwide receipts. In 1998, the AFI ranked it as the 2nd best American epic film ever made. A 100m USD big budget remake of Ben Hur directed by Timur Bekmambetov was released by Paramount & MGM on August 19th 2016 to generally poor reviews .....