'Ben-Hur' movie: Bible epic prepares for mid-August premiere
Evangelical Christians have proven an extremely strong audience for movie-makers when it comes to Biblical movies. For the upcoming movie "Ben-Hur," Motive Entertainment has started the ball rolling on its full-scale marketing campaign ahead of its mid-August premiere, and has started marketing the movie to churchgoers across the nation.
"Ben-Hur" promises to be an action spectacular, and will premiere in theaters in the United States on Aug. 19.
Motive, official marketer of Ben-Hur, also handled Mel Gibson's movie "Passion of the Christ," which earned more than $600 million worldwide. With the success of Gibson's 2004 film, the marketing company won the award as Best Marketer of the Year by Ad Age magazine. Motive also marketed Biblical movies such as "Son of God" and "The Bible," and helped Sony in launching the highly successful "Heaven is for Real."
"Ben-Hur" executive producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey have also put their weight behind marketing the movie, and have recently visited Saddleback Church in California, home to popular Pastor Rick Warren, to promote the film.
On Instagram, Downey posted a picture with Pastor Rick Warren and Bishop Ken Ulmer, along with her husband Burnett, during their visit in Saddleback two weeks ago. Her post read, "We are all super excited about 'Ben-HUR' coming August 19."
Saddleback Church gave away free tickets to the first 1,000 people that arrived for the special preview of "Ben-Hur" two weeks ago. Following the advance screening of "Ben-Hur," Warren, Burnett, and Downey answered questions about the film.
In Australia, Christian Schools Australia, in cooperation with Heritage Films and Paramount Pictures, has also arranged a special screening of "Ben-Hur" on the Gold Coast. The film previews will be shown to attendees of the National Leadership Retreat hosted by the school in August.
The "Ben-Hur" remake is based on the novel "Ben-Hur: A Tale of Christ." Written by Lee Wallace in 1880, the book tells the epic story of Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish nobleman, whose experiences interweaves with the life of Jesus.
In the upcoming movie, Ben-Hur, played by Jack Huston, is falsely accused of treason by his adopted brother Messala (Toby Kebbell). He becomes a boat slave who is later on washed ashore from a sudden shipwreck. He meets Ilderim (Morgan Freeman) who tells him that the only way to seek revenge is to join a chariot race.
The latest trailer for Ben Hur can be seen below:
