Ben-Hur (1959 film) the box office), generating approximately $74.7 million in box office sales. Outside of North America, it earned $32.5 million in rentals (about $72.2 million at the box office) for a worldwide total of $66.1 million in rental earnings, roughly equivalent to $146.9 million in box office receipts. It was the fastest-grossing film as well as the highest-grossing film of 1959, in the process becoming the second-highest-grossing film of all-time (at that time) behind "Gone with the Wind". "Ben-Hur" saved MGM from financial disaster, making a profit of $20,409,000 on its initial release, and another $10.1 million in profits when re-released
Caesar and Cleopatra (film) Caesar and Cleopatra (film) Caesar and Cleopatra is a 1945 British Technicolor film directed by Gabriel Pascal and starring Claude Rains and Vivien Leigh. Some scenes were directed by Brian Desmond Hurst who took no formal credit. It was adapted from the play "Caesar and Cleopatra" (1901) by George Bernard Shaw. The film was produced by Independent Producers and Pascal Film Productions, and was distributed by Eagle-Lion Distributors. St6aff (30 October 1946) "Caesar and Cleopatra" was a box office failure, but it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction for John Bryan. In this philosophical coming-of-age film,