It’s been famine to feast for MGM, which nearly went under when it declared bankruptcy a couple of years ago, but it’s now close to becoming the first studio with back-to-back $1 billion grossing movies thanks to Skyfall and The Hobbit. It seems to have renewed the studio’s confidence, as it’s now taking on a pretty ambitious project, a remake of the classic Ben-Hur.
The studio has acquired a spec script by Keith R. Clarke (The Way Back), which is apparently more faithful to the 1880 novel by Lew Wallace than either the 1959 or 1925 versions. William Wyler’s Charlton Heston starring adaptation focused on the feud between Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) and Messalla (Stephen Boyd), but this new film will explore the characters’ formative years, when they grew up as best friends before the Roman Empire conquered Jerusalem.
The script also features Jesus Christ, who encounters Ben-Hur and whose tale is told in parallel to the title character. Ben-Hur begins to believe that Christ is the Messiah, before he is killed by Pontius Pilate.
Don’t expect it soon though, as it’s fairly early in the production process and the sort of film it often takes a long time to put together. (Source: Deadline)
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