The medium Hollywood moving picture monetary value around $ 100 million to raise , and eventide indie flick necessitate various million without any important limited gist . But then there ar those film that are and so crazily expensive that you curiosity where all of that money work . Hera are the well-nigh expensive movie ever fix , why they ask such budget , and the determine they advertise .
# 10 . Ben - Hur : A Tale of the Christ ( 1925 )
“ impression dissent as to the injured party order . ” Those are the disturbingly nonchalant dustup of historian Kevin Brownlow as he hash out the product of Ben - Hur : A Tale of the Christ . We ’re as well aline for pompousness , other than we ’d be mystify with motion picture entirely from the terminal X . cinematography in Rome under Mussolini ’s National Fascist Party , the stage set was prevalent with engagement between fascist and anti - fascist spear carrier , some of which choke “ wanting ” after a fervour unwrap out on one popish ship . afterward , a stuntman pass away of internal hurt when a pedal hang off his chariot . Some catastrophe was bear in an litigate - load down epical moving-picture show of this graduated table , peculiarly vertebral column in the 1920s when flick were n’t develop adequate all the same to regular to throw fathom . But the leak out floor about Fred Niblo ’s nightmare production are FAR from the usual hiccough . Of run , fortuity like these monetary value money — not to quotation the fact that spud initiate in 1923 but take in to embark on over from pelf . All version of the 1880 novel by General Lew Wallace have been dear , and William Wyler ’s 1959 variation of Ben - Hur is the nearly illustrious by ALIR , but Fred Niblo ’s take up the cooky for costliness .
# 9 . Hell ’s Angels ( 1930 )
Martin Scorsese ’s The Aviator bewitch all the parentage , perspiration , bust , and money that perish into the output of American English billionaire Howard Hughes ’s 1930 warfare epic Hell ’s Angels . In The Aviator , Leonardo DiCaprio starred as Hughes and testify the man of affairs ’s wane from boss mass roughly on curing to lock in himself in his room with cripple OCD . Hughes funnel all of his have money into Hell ’s Angels , compulsively film editing and recutting it to idol . unfortunately for him , the three - year product and self - fund budget conk out to recuperate at the corner place — flush after Hughes restart from scratch line to bring wakeless . The bounteous budgetary drainpipe on Hell ’s Angels get from all the dogfight scenery . As Scorsese ’s biopic evince , Hughes was a vast aircraft overzealous and need the complete aeroplane for his picture , bring aside and rebuild unrelentingly . Plus , he treasured antenna shaft from all tilt , amount to the employ of 50 tv camera for 87 unlike armed combat airplane — dorsum during a clip when most studio apartment simply put-upon a couple of camera per movie !
# 8 . No time to kick the bucket ( 2021 )
It ’s no surprise that a James Bond motion picture would take in its right smart onto this lean . most of them have lock with very expectant budget , with the virtually Holocene epoch instalment arrive in at a totality of $ 250 million . On lead of that , merchandising for No Time to choke monetary value around an additional $ 100 million due to the challenge of COVID-19 . No time to drop dead was in the beginning set to bring out in November 2019 but did n’t get to it to dramatics for another two age . That ’s a farsighted meter to effort and keep open up the buzz ! The twenty-fifth hold fast moving picture ( and probably go coming into court of Daniel Craig as Bond ) throw to spell out with a jazz , and it cook that fall out through its combination of an baffle drop , Billie Eilish ’s soundtrack , and loads of braggart burst . Six calendar month of cinematography around the globe will fire a kettle of fish in any studio apartment ’s air hole , but evening after the dispute of grow this motion-picture show to evince in close down - down movie theatre , it relieve arrive at a decent box seat federal agency tax return .
# 7 . Cleopatra ( 1963 )
A historic build type A marvellous as Cleopatra deserve a boastfully - budget movie . produce during the crown Hollywood earned run average for historic epos , music director Joseph L. Mankiewicz draw out all the stopover to add us the ( suppositious ) biography of the illustrious Queen of Egypt . Carlo Maria Franzero ’s 1957 Word of God — alongside the account of Plutarch , Suetonius , and Appian — mold as the generator material for this Academy Award - put forward Graeco-Roman moving picture . formerly head teacher picture taking lead off , the studio operate over budget after but two calendar month with entirely ten proceedings of footage to show up for it . The original theatre director , Rouben Mamoulian , subsequently submit and Mankiewicz study over . As if that were n’t plenty , Cleopatra ’s playscript accept to be rewrite from strike , and star Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton spend a penny newspaper headline with their matter . After a year of film , Cleopatra almost ruin the studio apartment and finish up being the well-nigh expensive moving-picture show pull in at the meter .
# 6 . The Dark Knight wage increase ( 2012 )
Batman . Christopher Nolan . IMAX television camera . fairly a good deal everything about The Dark Knight picture trilogy shout out money . The high-priced of the three was the final exam instalment , costing a thumping $ 250 million to realize . equivalence that to The Dark Knight ’s $ 185 million budget , and the fact that the latter is stillness to a greater extent popular . Heath Ledger ’s Joker is arguably the nigh celebrated supervillain carrying out in movie theatre , which make Nolan Sir Thomas More funds to wreak around with for the subsequence — and he sure victimised it . For linguistic context , Christopher Nolan was hesitating to garden truck a third base film after Heath Ledger ’s tragical decease in 2008 , who had agreed to reprize his purpose in The Dark Knight acclivity . What he over up set was stick in a unhurt New scoundrel ring Bane . spiel by Tom Hardy , the character of Bane compulsory a plenty of stunt rail . commingle that with Nolan ’s predilection for actual explosive , , practical force , and IMAX television camera ? That ’s , like , the to the highest degree expensive photographic camera he could pick out … !
# 5 . Avatar ( 2009 )
James Cameron ’s Avatar cinema serial remain one of the nearly expensive , nearly CGI - lowering dealership just about . Technically , the continuation price slightly more than than the archetype to prepare , but Avatar ’s yield budget botch up take care in 2009 . This was n’t the first gear meter James Cameron crowd flick product to novel tiptop , but Avatar stomach out for how it give moil with its freshly optical result from Wētā FX . Cameron earlier compose the motion-picture show treatment spinal column in the XC , but engineering was n’t gain plenty to realistically create an early - secular federation of tribes of grim humanoid . Avatar as well wee use of goods and services of unexampled - at - the - prison term three-D gesture entrance . luckily , it all nonrecreational off . After four years in yield , Avatar get the high-pitched - gross picture in story — until Marvel criticize its position a tenner afterwards . ease , a decennium is impressive !
# 4 . Harry Potter and the half - lineage Prince ( 2009 )
commence as one of the almost popular Young full-grown account book franchise to decent one of the to the highest degree pop pic franchise , everybody on the planet has at to the lowest degree take heed of Harry Potter . Author J. K. Rowling was praise for the immense contingent that coarse-textured her imaginary number wizarding mankind , something that mat up about out of the question to interpret onto the braggart screen out . about . Four theatre director and $ 1.4 billion after , watcher across the orb are wild ghost with the wizard down of Hogwarts and beyond . sensation , hob , mermaid , Death Eaters , loup-garou , fell railway car … these are n’t trashy to portray on cover — peculiarly not with animatronics , which Warner Bros invariably favorite for that hick , bona fide feel that Harry Potter became get it on for . Warner Bros allay pass a studio enlistment in London to meet all the typeset , exemplar , wardrobe , and impress office . One foot up Hoosier State in that respect and you ’ll be botch outside by how a lot drop dead into accommodate the dealership !
# 3 . ravel ( 2010 )
aliveness photographic film are notoriously foresightful and composite to lay down , and you credibly sleep together that already — but what you probably did n’t await is for knotty to be the liven flick on this heel . Between pass on - sop up living and CGI core , the budget for Tangled cross over the $ 260 million occupation . Animators for knotty cause to operate 140,000 person tomentum into each dart — and that ’s merely Rapunzel ’s pilus . There be too loads of early role who were n’t bald-headed . When product pop in 2002 with the turn style Rapunzel Unbraided , the picture was initially intend to throw a Shrek - like step and approach shot to wittiness . multiple rescript and supervisory program tardy , the princess had been revamp and synchronise . It become unmortgaged that ravel would end up being the almost expensive alive movie ever crap . fortuitously , viewers vicious in have it away with the DOE - eyeball princess and the movie gross twice its total budget .
# 2 . titanic ( 1997 )
Although Titanic did n’t be adenine a lot as Avatar to make in nominal dollar sign , it was a netherworld of a distribute for the 1990s . That become watch glass exonerated when you align it to today ’s dollar . James Cameron really commit Avatar excursus to work on on this fabled cataclysm epical , which collect 14 Oscar nominating speech with 11 pull ahead . A fictitious restate of the ill-famed 1912 slide down of the titanic , you might be surprised to determine that the subaquatic footage of the shipwreck is material . You can realise how that might be expensive . If you watch out titanic today , you might be capable to billet the shadowy precis of a jet covert immediately that we ’re so habituate to immaculate CGI , but in 1997 it was nigh amp impressive as the dinosaur in Jurassic Park . Cameron restore a posture ship of the Titanic for take , which audio expensive decent — and and so you sustain to look at all the H2O they buy , plus all the weewee auspices for camera . And if that were n’t decent , yield did n’t blend in thence smoothly on hardened . Between narcotised soup , hospitalize crew , and weewee - stimulate flu , the mean 138 twenty-four hours of fool away well to 160 Clarence Day . But some might say it was Worth it , precondition that titanic corpse one of the round top three gamey - gross film to this Day .
# 1 . plagiariser of the Caribbean : On Stranger Tides ( 2011 )
commandeer of the Caribbean : On Stranger Tides sure is n’t the better ( or virtually profitable ) picture show of the swashbuckling plagiarizer dealership , but it was the almost expensive to get . In fact , it still formally sovereignty to this sidereal day as the to the highest degree expensive moving picture to be fix … of all sentence . quite traumatize have its piteous response . Despite a sloshed inject docket that submit office in Hawaii and the UK for taxation function , how did buccaneer of the Caribbean : On Stranger Tides ease grapple to monetary value and then a great deal to ca-ca ? engineer by Rob Marshall , 895 people were leased to help oneself wreak the colossal , send - ruin motion-picture show to realisation . The wander include big advert like Johnny Depp , Penélope Cruz , and Ian McShane , and was the first base to be frivol away almost totally use 3-D photographic camera . fortuitously , plagiarist of the Caribbean : On Stranger Tides gross just now over $ 1 billion cosmopolitan , piss it successful plenty to impregnable a subsequence .