‘Ben-Hur’ delayed til August 2016, ‘Risen’ moves up to a February release

MGM and Paramount Pictures have moved the release of Ben-Hur by nearly six months — from Feb. 26 to Aug. 12. This opened up the date for Risen, another faith-based project, to move up and upon in theaters.

After news of Timur Bekmambetov’s adaptation of Ben-Hur getting bumped, Sony Pictures wasted no time to slate Risen in that slot. Risen centers on a Roman soldier who goes looking for the missing body of Jesus and will now arrive in theaters on February 19, 2016.

Clavius (Joseph Fiennes, left) warns Lucius (Tom Felton) to let them all pass, after he discovers him leading the apostles away from the Roman soldiers in TriStar Pictures’ RISEN.

Possibly taking notes from Jesus Christ centered film successes, like The Passion of the Christ (February 25, 2004) and Son of God (February 28, 2014), Risen may be primed to tap into a pre-Easter rush and find box office success.

Ben-Hur stars Jack Huston as the titular Jewish prince betrayed into slavery by Messala, played by Toby Kebbell. Mark Burnett, Sean Daniel and Joni Levin are producing the film.

The project began taking shape in 2013 when MGM acquired Clarke’s script, an adaptation of Lew Wallace’s 1880 novel “Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ,” which is now in the public domain. The story focuses on the years prior to those portrayed in the 1959 film, centering on the characters Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish prince and merchant in Jerusalem, and his childhood friend Messala, who returns home as a commanding officer of the Roman legions and betrays the Ben-Hur family.

The 1959 movie, which was set in ancient Rome, was directed by William Wyler and produced by Sam Zimbalist and starred Charlton Heston, Stephen Boyd, Jack Hawkins and Hugh Griffith – winning 11 Oscars, including best picture.

Joseph Fiennes stars as the Roman soldier Clavius searching for Christ’s missing body and “reintroduces us to Jesus’s crucifixion, resurrection—and to the Great Commission—not through a disciple or follower’s POV but through the experience of a hardened and skeptical Roman tribune,” according to Sony.

Harry Potter star Tom Felton and Fear the Walking Dead star Cliff Curtis co-star – full synopsis below.

RISEN is an epic biblical story of the weeks immediately following Jesus’ death on the cross, as seen through the eyes of the unbelieving Clavius (Fiennes), a high-ranking Roman military tribune. Clavius and his aide Lucius (Felton) are instructed by Pontius Pilate to ensure that Jesus’ radical followers don’t steal His body and claim resurrection. When the body goes missing within days, Clavius’ mission is to find the body, dispel rumors of a risen Messiah and prevent an uprising in Jerusalem.