Ben-Hur (1959 film) New York City on November 18, 1959. Present at the premiere were William Wyler, Charlton Heston, Stephen Boyd, Haya Harareet, Martha Scott, Ramon Novarro (who played Judah Ben-Hur in the 1925 silent film version), Spyros Skouras (president of the 20th Century Fox), Barney Balaban (president of Paramount Pictures), Jack L. Warner (president of Warner Bros.), Leonard Goldenson (president of the American Broadcasting Company), Moss Hart (playwright), Robert Kintner (an ABC Television executive), Sidney Kingsley (playwright), and Adolph Zukor (founder of Paramount Pictures). During its initial release the film earned $33.6 million in North American theater rentals (the distributor's share of
Sleeping Beauty (1959 film) 70mm prints. The Super Technirama 70 prints were equipped with six-track stereophonic sound; some CinemaScope-compatible 35mm Technirama prints were released in four-track stereo, and others had monaural soundtracks. On the initial run, "Sleeping Beauty" was paired with the short musical/documentary film "Grand Canyon" which won an Academy Award. During its original release in January 1959, "Sleeping Beauty" grossed approximately $5.3 million in theater rentals (the distributor's share of the box office gross). "Sleeping Beauty's" production costs, which totaled $6 million, made it the most expensive Disney film up to that point, and over twice as expensive as each of the