The Ten Commandments: 1956 Epic Film's Surprising Streaming Success

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Anne Baxter on a sofa looking distressed in The Ten Commandments (1956)

Published Feb 1, 2026, 12:40 PM EST

Rahul Malhotra is a Weekend News Writer for Collider. From Francois Ozon to David Fincher, he'll watch anything once.

He has been writing for Collider for over two years, and has covered everything from Marvel to the Oscars, and Marvel at the Oscars. He also writes obsessively about the box office, charting the many hits and misses that are released weekly, and how their commercial performance shapes public perception. In his time at Collider, he has also helped drive diversity by writing stories about the multiple Indian film industries, with a goal to introduce audiences to a whole new world of cinema.

Swing and a miss > measured victory. Also, #JusticeForHan. (He/Him).

While promoting his recent action film The Rip, Matt Damon spoke about working with Christopher Nolan on The Odyssey, the big-budget epic that's due out in the summer. Damon said that he'd never seen such a large production, and that he was struck by the possibility that The Odyssey might be the last movie of its kind made in Hollywood — a movie with majestic sets, thousands of extras, and practical effects. Nolan has always cited David Lean as an inspiration, but Lean's own career was influenced by the legendary Cecil B. DeMille, who changed Hollywood forever with his epics. None was bigger than The Ten Commandments, which was released in 1956, emerging as the most expensive and the most successful movie ever made up till that point. The movie recently witnessed a surge in interest on home video, as it celebrates its 70th anniversary.

According to FlixPatrol, The Ten Commandments was among the most-watched movies on the domestic Pluto TV charts this week. Starring Charlton Heston as Moses and Yul Brynner as Rameses II, the movie had a daunting 220-minute running time, which doesn't include the overture or the intermission. It was practically a day-long affair, and yet, it managed to gross $120 million at the box office. Adjusted for inflation, The Ten Commandments is among the 10 highest-grossing movies of all time, with an equivalent of $2.8 billion in the bank. This is around the same amount that James Cameron's Avatar made in its box office run. Avatar is the top-grossing movie of all time, unadjusted for inflation, while Gone with the Wind is the number one movie of all time if grosses were to be adjusted, which they typically aren't when tabulating box office performance.

The Book of Exodus Has Been Adapted Into Epic Movies Many Times

The Ten Commandments was shot on VistaVision, a format that was revived only last year by Paul Thomas Anderson, with his screwball action comedy One Battle After Another. The movie was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including in the Best Picture category. Decades later, DreamWorks revisited the Book of Exodus in the animated classic The Prince of Egypt, which featured Val Kilmer as Moses and Ralph Fiennes as Rameses. Some years later, Ridley Scott directed an epic live-action adaptation, titled Exodus: Gods and Kings. The movie featured Christian Bale and Joel Edgerton as Moses and Rameses, respectively, and underperformed at the box office, grossing around $270 million worldwide against a reported budget of $200 million.