The Top 7 Most Expensive Movies of All Time
If you’ve ever wondered what the most expensive movie of all time was, you might be surprised to find out it’s not actually in English. Or that there were only two movies released in 2015 that broke the $1 billion dollar mark worldwide, or that James Cameron’s Titanic is still the top-grossing movie worldwide despite having been released over 20 years ago. But all of those movies can be found on this list of top 7 most expensive movies of all time... and that doesn’t even include inflation!
Avatar
With a budget of almost $300 million, James Cameron’s 2009 science fiction film Avatar is the most expensive movie ever made. The film grossed over $2.7 billion worldwide and became the highest-grossing film in history. Avatar also holds records for being the first live action movie to be filmed entirely in 3D, as well as for being the first movie to gross more than $2 billion worldwide at the box office. It was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.
Titanic
James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster Titanic remains the highest grossing film in history. The movie cost a whopping $200 million to produce, and it has earned over $2.2 billion at the box office worldwide! Other films that made the list include: Avatar ($150 million), Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides ($250 million), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End ($300 million) and Black Panther ($200 million). Interestingly enough, the average budget for these top 7 big budget movies is around $187 million per film. And while most of these films have exceeded expectations in terms of profit, there are some other productions that ended up being huge money losers. For example, Heaven's Gate (a 1980 Western directed by Michael Cimino) had a production budget of over $40 million but only generated less than $3 million at the box office.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
In the fourth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean series, Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) is pursued by an old nemesis, Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), who has taken command of a ghost ship. The movie was filmed in various locations around the world, including Hawaii and England. The film cost $250 million to make and was released on May 20th 2011. It had an estimated budget of $20 billion worldwide and made more than that in global box office sales. It grossed a total of $1 billion at the international box office, which set a new record for Disney at that time. One reason it did so well is because it opened simultaneously with the newest Harry Potter movie (Half-Blood Prince). The high costs may have been due to all the computer generated special effects which created breathtaking scenes like pirates leaping off cliffs onto enemy ships
John Carter
Based off a story by Edgar Rice Burroughs, John Carter is set in an alternate history. The movie tells the story of a war-weary Civil War veteran who finds himself transported to Mars, and must become a hero in order to save the planet from destruction. Directed by Andrew Stanton, John Carter cost around $250 million to produce and brought in just over $73 million domestically on its opening weekend. Despite all the buzz surrounding the film's release, it's still one of Disney's biggest box office bombs. With an estimated production budget of $250 million, the total loss was somewhere between $200-$300 million (which would make it Disney's second most expensive bomb). One thing that might have contributed to John Carter being such a failure? It opened against The Lorax which took home nearly three times as much money at the box office.
Spider Man 3
This movie was released on May 3, 2007 and had a budget of $258 million which is the highest budget for a film ever. Spider-Man 3 grossed over $890 million at the worldwide box office and sold over 5 million DVDs in just three weeks. Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2: It’s the second part of two films based on British author J.K. Rowling’s best-selling book Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows.
Justice League
DC and Warner Bros. should be proud as they have produced one of the most expensive movies in history. Justice League, at a budget of $250 million, is among the 10 most expensive movies ever made and is the second most expensive movie of 2017. It's been estimated that the film will need to gross $1 billion just to break even. However, many fans are not expecting Justice League to live up to Wonder Woman or Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
While Marvel has yet to make any films on this list, it does not mean that we cannot anticipate their films Avengers: Infinity War and Black Panther which are predicted to be on this list soon.
King Kong (2005 remake)
King Kong was the highest-grossing film in 2005, with a worldwide box office take of $550 million. It also set a record for being the most expensive film ever made at the time, with an estimated budget of over $200 million. The success of this movie helped pave the way for other Hollywood blockbusters such as Titanic and Avatar to break records. At that point it became easier for studios to invest huge sums of money into movies that they knew would return significant profits. Some estimate that after all its expenses are accounted for, King Kong cost well over $400 million dollars, making it still one of the most expensive films on our list.