Reception
The studio’s publicity department was relentless in promoting the film, advertising it with lines like: “The Picture Every Christian Ought to See!” and “The Supreme Motion Picture Masterpiece of All Time”. Although audiences flocked to Ben-Hur after its premiere in 1925 and the picture grossed $9 million worldwide, its huge expenses and the deal with Erlanger made it a net financial loss for MGM. It recorded an overall loss of $698,000.
In terms of publicity and prestige however, it was a great success. “The screen has yet to reveal anything more exquisitely moving than the scenes at Bethlehem, the blazing of the star in the heavens, the shepherds and the Wise Men watching. The gentle, radiant Madonna of Betty Bronson’s is a masterpiece,” wrote a reviewer for Photoplay. “No one,” they concluded, “no matter what his age or religion, should miss it. And take the children.” It helped establish the new MGM as a major studio.
The film was re-released in 1931 with an added musical score, by the original composers William Axt and David Mendoza, and sound effects. As the decades passed, the original two-color Technicolor segments were replaced by alternate black-and-white takes. Ben-Hur earned $1,352,000 during its re-release and made a profit of $779,000 meaning it had an overall profit of $81,000. It remains one of the few films at Rotten Tomatoes to maintain a 100% freshness rating.
Source: Wikipedia
Unoriginal, sure, it's a remake, but Roma Downey and Mark Burnett aren't really typical Hollywood.
In standard "them vs. us" politics, they may be as much or more "us" than "them."