Here are the 10 most expensive films ever made
10: Cleopatra
Image Source: IMDB
The historic American-made movie, Cleopatra, which premiered on June 12th, 1963, was quite a spectacle for its time, since it was the most expensive movie project anyone had ever worked on or even seen. It cost thirty-one point one million dollars to make, which, if made in 2017, and was adjusted for today's inflation, would come to around two hundred and forty-eight point five million.
The production put 20th Century Fox in a state of near bankruptcy, when it ended up spending twenty-nine million dollars more than it expected to. The film featured a star-studded cast, with a young Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra the 7th, and other famous names of the era, such as Sir Rex Harrison and Richard Burton.
Taylor was paid a record-breaking one million dollars, and due to large delays in shooting, it became a seven million dollar payday, which is close to fifty-six million by today's rates. Luckily, the movie did gross fifty-seven point eight million at the box office which would be like earning around four hundred and sixty-two million dollars today. That's all it takes to get that much more of a payday, seven times the earnings?
9: Waterworld
Image Source: IMDB
The Kevin Costner, post-apocalyptic epic, Waterworld, premiered on July 28th, 1995, with an estimated production budget of one-hundred and seventy-two million dollars, which, adjusted for today's inflation, would be more like two hundred and seventy-six million dollars.
At the time, it was the most expensive film ever made and it was very nearly a financial disaster for Universal Studios, earning only eighty-eight million dollars at the North American box office.
Waterworld actually proved to be more of a success in the foreign market than the domestic, earning one hundred and seventy-six million, bringing its worldwide total to two hundred and sixty-four million dollars or four hundred and twenty-four million by today's standards.
The film's total expenses came in at around seventy-five million dollars over budget, due to huge water enclosure sets being destroyed by a hurricane and Costner, who was also producing, calling for complete re-dos of the film's soundtrack. Sounds like a film maker's nightmare, but hey, at least it's a classic by today's standards, right? Nobody makes fun of that movie.
8: John Carter
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If you don't remember the movie, John Carter, the 2012 movie, starring Taylor Kitsch and Willem Dafoe, it's mostly because it was one of the most expensive box office fails of all time for Disney. With marketing and production costs of three hundred and fifty million dollars, John Carter had some big spending recovery to undertake at the box office.
When the film opened on March 9th, 2012, it received, uh let's just say, mixed reviews, due to the story and plot issues. And from there, it only went on to earn seventy-three million dollars in North America. Overseas, the film recouped more of its losses, by earning two hundred and eleven million dollars, bringing the worldwide total to two hundred and eighty-four million and leaving a loss of still sixty-six million.
The film's losses resulted in the resignation of the chairman of Walt Disney Studios, Rich Ross. Not to be confused with Rick Ross, huh. John Carter was supposed to be the first movie of a trilogy, which was of course canceled because of the high cost and very low return. Sometimes Disney's movie magic ends up becoming a magical movie failure.
7: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
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If you're a Harry Potter fan, it may interest you to know that the sixth entry in the Harry Potter movie franchise, the Half-Blood Prince, came at an extreme cost to the production company. So extreme, in fact, that it became the most expensive Harry Potter film in the series, and the seventh most expensive film of all time.
When Half-Blood Prince was released on July 15th, 2009, its budget topped two hundred and seventy-five million dollars, a figure that's one hundred million dollars more than its predecessors, and equal to the total of the final entries of Deathly Hallows, Part one and two combined.
Part of this extra expense was due to the actors, who had been with the series from the start, having their contracts renegotiated, including lead actor, Daniel Radcliffe, who earned between fourteen million and twenty million dollars, just for his role.
But the film ended up making over nine hundred and thirty-four million dollars worldwide at the box office, making it a stupidly ridiculous success. That's a whole lot of monies, Crappio my Pants-o. I'm sure that's a spell.
6: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Image Source: IMDB
Since 2003, the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has been a giant money magnet for Walt Disney Studios and producer Jerry Bruckheimer. It's also been a giant sinkhole for money, taking hundreds of millions of dollars in order to secure the acting talent, impressive CGI effects and fantastical and exotic sets. The third film in the series, which premiered on May 25th, 2007, set a brand new high for movie spending with a whopping three hundred million dollar price tag.
Lead actor, Johnny Depp, who plays the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow, was paid around sixty-five million dollars for his role in what was originally to be the last Pirates movie.
Add that to the paychecks for stars like Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom and you already have one-third of the movie budget spent. Fortunately for Disney, the movie grossed three hundred and nine million dollars in North America alone, with six hundred and fifty-four million dollars overseas, for a total of over nine hundred sixty-three million dollars.
5: Avengers: Age of Ultron
Image Source: IMDB
Typically, superhero movies cost a pretty penny to film for the big screen, but when you invite all the most popular Marvel heroes into the same film, it can cost, uh, an arm and a leg, or maybe just all of your limbs. Avengers: Age of Ultron premiered on May 1st, 2015, and cost three hundred and sixteen million dollars for all of the stars, sets, and over three thousand CGI shots and production talent that came together for one of the biggest superhero movies of all time.
Robert Downey Jr. alone earned forty million dollars as Iron Man, followed by Scarlett Johansen, who got twenty million as Black Widow, while the other actors who played Thor, Hulk, Hawkeye, and Captain America earned a total of twenty one point two million dollars together.
The film, which was written and directed by Joss Whedon, was received favorably by critics and earned a whopping one point four billion dollars worldwide at the box office, making it the seventh highest grossing film of all time.
4: Tangled
Image Source: IMDB
Disney's computer animated take on Rapunsel, Tangled, released on November 24th, 2010, had a production budget of two hundred and eighty-one million dollars and became the fifth most expensive movie ever made. Rapunsel was the first official Disney princess to be fully rendered in 3-D and much of the film's cost went into developing the computer graphic engines specifically tailored to the film's aesthetic.
The digital artists worked to blend the artistic painted style of 2-D animation with the motion and depth of 3-D, opting to go for a moving, painted world look, rather than the photo-realistic Disney princess movie. One of the biggest and most expensive issues that plagued the animators was with the creation of realistic hair physics, a process that took six years to solve, but the switch to 3-D proved to be a success and Tangled racked in two hundred point eight million dollars in North America, and three hundred and ninety point nine million worldwide, for a total of over five hundred and ninety-one million.
3: Spider-Man 3
Image Source: IMDB
Spider-Man 3, the last Spider-Man film in director Sam Raimi's trilogy, starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, and James Franco premiered on May 4th, 2007. Writer and director Raimi decided to exit the Spider-Man movie franchise with a bang, or at least the third most expensive movie production budget of all time, spending two hundred and ninety-three million dollars.
The budget, when adjusted for inflation in 2017, comes to three hundred and four point two million dollars, virtually tying it with the expenses used in creating the Titanic. Lead actor, Tobey Maguire, agreed to reprise his role as Peter Parker for a cool fifteen million dollars, following the success of the first two films in the trilogy.
The giant spend for the Marvel hero blockbuster paid off, with a worldwide box office gross of just under eight hundred and ninety-one million dollars, making it the highest grossest Spider-Man movie of all time, unless the reboot, Spider-Man Homecoming, somehow manages to dethrone it.
2: Titanic
Image Source: IMDB
This famous history epic by James Cameron was, and is still, one of the most well-known movies of all time and one of the most expensive too. Premiering on December 19th, 1997, Titanic, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, was the most expensive film ever made at the time. The overall production cost hit two hundred million dollars, which would be equal to just under three hundred and five million dollars by today's inflation.
Cameron actually contracted the company that built the original Titanic, to help him build a scale replica that was more film-worthy than it was sea-worthy. Entire rooms, complete with intricate decoration and props, were all created from scratch at an incredible cost.
Though 20th Century Fox was worried about the cost, and over three hour runtime of the film, Titanic became a massive box office hit, making over six hundred million dollars in North America alone, and one point two billion dollars worldwide, bringing the worldwide total to one point eight billion.
1: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Image Source: IMDB
Since the third Pirates movie wasn't mind-blowingly expensive enough for Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer productions, they decided to double down on their box office gamble and spend four hundred and three million dollars for the fourth installment.
In Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, actor, Johnny Depp, was called upon again to reprise his crowd-pleasing role of Captain Jack Sparrow, for this time, brace yourself, fifty-five point five million dollars, while regular supporting characters were set aside and replaced by new characters.
Stranger Tides extravagant production and marketing budget actually did pay off, drawing in a worldwide box office total of over one billion, forty-six million dollars. The film's crazy budget incorporated over one thousand, one hundred shots of computer-generated imagery, 3-D cameras, exotic destination filming, and a soundtrack done by Hans Zimmer.
It's considered to be one of the most expensive films of all time so far, and despite mixed reviews, it profited hugely.
And that's it for this episode. I really hope you guys enjoyed it and, as always, on the right you'll find
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