List of most expensive films
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"We might even wonder whether he did not merely organize Nuremberg for Leni Riefenstahl, as certain elements lead us to suppose, and taking the argument a little further, whether the whole of the Second World War…was not indeed conducted as a big budget war film, solely put on so it could be projected as newsreel each evening in his bunker…the artistic organization of these mass ceremonies, recorded on celluloid, and even the organization of the final collapse, were part of the overall programme of this movement." --Die freudlose Gesellschaft, 1981, Hans-Jürgen Syberberg. |
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This is a non-definitive list of the most expensive films, both non-adjusted (top) and adjusted (bottom) for inflation. Only movies with a budget of $150 million U.S. dollars or more are listed here.
These lists contain only the films that are already released to the general public, and no films that are still in production, post-production or just announced films, for the reason that these costs can still change in the production process. Listed below is the negative cost: the costs of the actual filming, and not including promotional costs (i.e. advertisements, commercials, posters, etc.). Most studios, however, will not give a statement on the actual production costs, so only estimates by professional researchers and movie industry writers are available.
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Most expensive films (not adjusted for inflation)
Charted using IMDB estimates, and alternative estimates are noted with citations.
Most expensive Hollywood films (adjusted for inflation)
The two charts presented here by price comparison consumer website Know Your Money and Forbes magazine have had their budgets adjusted for 2008 and 2006 respectively. There is a strong correlation between the order of the two charts, and the slightly different order can be explained by differences in the estimations of the original budgets and the inflation measure used to convert the amounts to their equivalent present day value. Since the Forbes chart was compiled, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Spider-Man 3 and Quantum of Solace have been released and are included in the more recent Know Your Money chart. The most striking omission from the Know Your Money chart is Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest which is highly placed on the Forbes chart, ranking higher than some of the films that feature on the Know Your Money chart.
| KYM rank | Forbes rank | Movie name | Year | Production costs (KYM est. 2008) | Production costs (Forbes est. 2006) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | n/a | Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End | 2007 | $316.6m | n/a |
| 2 | 1 | Cleopatra | 1963 | $314.6m | $290,200,000 |
| 3 | 2 | Superman Returns | 2006 | $294.6m | $268,500,000 |
| 4 | 3 | Titanic | 1997 | $272.6m | $250,200,000 |
| 5 | n/a | Spider-Man 3 | 2007 | $272.2m | n/a |
| 6 | 4 | Waterworld | 1995 | $251.2m | $231,600,000 |
| 7 | 6 | Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines | 2003 | $237.8m | $219,500,000 |
| 8 | 8 | King Kong | 2005 | $231.9m | $212,300,000 |
| 9 | 7 | Spider-Man 2 | 2004 | $231.6m | $212,800,000 |
| 10 | n/a | Quantum of Solace | 2008 | $230.0m | n/a |
| 5 | Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest | 2006 | $223,100,000 | ||
| 9 | X-Men: The Last Stand | 2006 | $209,300,000 | ||
| 10 | Wild Wild West | 1999 | $206,400,000 | ||
| 11 | Speed 2: Cruise Control | 1997 | $201,400,000 | ||
| 12 | The 13th Warrior | 1999 | $193,200,000 | ||
| 13 | Troy | 2004 | $186,800,000 | ||
| 14 | The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe | 2005 | $184,600,000 | ||
| 15 | The Polar Express | 2004 | $174,300,000 | ||
| 16= | Armageddon | 1998 | $173,100,000 | ||
| 16= | Lethal Weapon 4 | 1998 | $173,100,000 | ||
| 18 | Van Helsing | 2004 | $170,700,000 | ||
| 19 | Superman | 1978 | $163,900,000 | ||
| 20 | The Matrix Reloaded | 2003 | $165,000,000 | ||
| 21= | Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World | 2003 | $164,100,000 | ||
| 21= | The Matrix Revolutions | 2003 | $164,100,000 | ||
| 23 | The Perfect Storm | 2000 | $164,000,000 | ||
| 24 | Alexander | 2004 | $163,800,000 | ||
| 25 | The World Is Not Enough | 1999 | $161,900,000 |
Other noteworthy budgets (adjusted for inflation)
| Movie name | Year | Production costs (est.) |
|---|---|---|
| War and Peace (4 parts) | 1968 | $700,000,000 (2007) |
| Metropolis | 1927 | $204,000,000 (2006) |
| Star Trek: The Motion Picture | 1979 | $163,400,000 |
| Terminator 2: Judgment Day | 1991 | $102,000,000 (1991) |
See also
- List of most expensive music videos
- List of highest-grossing films
- List of U.S. box office bombs
- List of most expensive non-English language films
- Internet Movie Database
