Brand new 360 photo from Ben-Hur throws you right into the races

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

I can honestly say I was shocked when I heard they would be making another big-budget version of BEN-HUR. Sure, it’s a biblical tale and those, for some reason, are becoming quite popular in the mainstream marketplace as of late. However, after the 1959 film won 11 Oscars and made $74 million ($848 million in today’s money) you’d think maybe it earned the right to be the final, definitive version. But this is today’s Hollywood, and who would’ve guessed in 1959 that by 2016 we would be completely out of ideas? I mean, Ridley Scott already tried his version of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, and GONE WITH THE WIND and WIZARD OF OZ are off the table…for now. So it had to be HUR.

That being said, if BEN-HUR had to be remade at the very least it should look cool from a visual standpoint. And on that note I think the movie will probably succeed. That can be said with more confidence given that we now have this new, awesome 360 degree photo of the much-advertised chariot race, courtesy of the BEN-HUR Facebook page. Take a peek!

As you can see, we get a full, panoramic view of the chariot race, including Jack Huston as Judah Ben-Hur, the cheering crowd, the sweeping stadium and one unlucky soul totally wiping out. The chariot race from the 1959 HUR is one of the most iconic scenes in film, so I’m glad to see this new version is honoring it in a modern way. Oh, don’t get me wrong, it won’t be as good as the original, but I can still give them credit where credit is due. My favorite part of the image, you ask? Why, it's the soldiers looking very lost along the wall of the stadium.

BEN-HUR rides into theaters August 19 and will star Jack Huston, Toby Kebbell, Nazanin Boniadi, Rodrigo Santoro and, of course, Morgan Freeman