Hollywood's big budget remake of the iconic 1959 film Ben Hur has gone south quickly at box offices in the US.

The film cost $100m but took in only $11.4m on its opening weekend.

It was a flop with reviewers, The LA Times described it as a "dull and lethargic piece of work," which is ultimately redundant - while Roling Stone called it a "digitalised eyesore hobbled in every department by staggering incompetence."

Paramount Vice Chairman Rob Moore conceded that the film's negative reception from critics had hit its bottom line. He added that the failure of Independence Day: Resurgence and Ghostbusters - two other reboots - also hurt consumer demand for remakes. "The challenge on all of us is to make sure the movies are fresh and that they are top quality, even if it is a sequel or remake," Mr Moore concluded.

This added to a difficult summer for Paramount which has featured a number of miss-fires.

Ahead of the release a marketing push was put behind promoting the picture in Christian communities, rather than an action-packed desert romp.

Suicide Squad stayed at the top of the box of the pile, earning $20.7m over its third weekend in US cinemas.