Ben-Hur (2016)

Ben-Hur (2016) is the definitive low point among modern biblical epics, losing $6 million at the box office on a $100 million budget. Timur Bekmambetov's remake of William Wyler's 1959 classic replaced the iconic practical chariot race—which used 15,000 extras and 72 horses—with unconvincing CGI that critics called lifeless. This iteration earned a mere $94 million worldwide, making it a bigger financial disaster than the Poltergeist (2015) remake's $95 million global haul. The film's 3.5/10 average rating on aggregators sits 80% below the original's 8.1/10, proving that a sterile, effects-driven retread cannot match Wyler's gritty, Oscar-winning craftsmanship.