List of most expensive films

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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.

Contents

[edit] Most expensive films (not adjusted for inflation)

Charted using IMDb[1] estimates, and alternative estimates are noted with citations.

List of most expensive films
Rank Movie name Year Production costs in millions (est.)
01 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End 2007 $300m
02 Spider-Man 3 2007 $258m (official[2])
03 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 2009 $250m
04 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest 2006 $225m
04 The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian 2008 $225m (official[3])
06 X-Men: The Last Stand 2006 $210m
07 Superman Returns 2006 $209m (official[4])
08 King Kong 2005 $207m
09 Quantum of Solace 2008 $200m
09 Spider-Man 2 2004 $200m
09 Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines 2003 $200m
09 Terminator Salvation 2009 $200m
09 Titanic 1997 $200m
09 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen 2009 $200m
09 2012 2009 $200m ($200m,[5][6] $260m[7][8])
15 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 2008 $185m
15 The Dark Knight 2008 $185m
15 The Golden Compass 2007 $180m ($205m[9])
15 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe 2005 $180m
15 Wall-E 2008 $180m
20 Evan Almighty 2007 $175m
20 Troy 2004 $175m
20 Up 2009 $175m
20 Waterworld 1995 $175m
24 Wild Wild West 1999 $170m ($175m[10])
24 G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra 2009 $170m
26 Poseidon 2006 $160m
26 Sahara 2005 $160m
26 Shrek the Third 2007 $160m
26 Van Helsing 2004 $160m
30 Alexander 2004 $155m
31 Batman Begins 2005 $150m
31 The Incredible Hulk 2008 $150m
31 X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2009 $150m
31 Angels & Demons 2009 $150m
31 Star Trek 2009 $150m
31 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian 2009 $150m
31 Casino Royale 2006 $150m
31 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 2005 $150m
31 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 2005 $150m
31 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix 2007 $150m
31 I Am Legend 2007 $150m
31 Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World 2003 $150m
31 The Matrix Reloaded 2003 $150m
31 The Matrix Revolutions 2003 $150m
31 Mission: Impossible III 2006 $150m
31 The Polar Express 2004 $150m
31 Beowulf 2007 $150m
31 Tarzan 1999 $150m
31 Transformers 2007 $150m
31 Hancock 2008 $150m
31 Shrek 2 2004 $150m
31 Ratatouille 2007 $150m
31 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button 2008 $150m ($160m[11])
31 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa 2008 $150m
31 Chicken Little 2005 $150m
31 Bolt 2008 $150m

[edit] Most expensive Hollywood films (adjusted for inflation)

The two charts presented here by price comparison consumer website Know Your Money[12] and Forbes[13] 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.

List of most expensive films, inflation adjusted
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[14]
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

[edit] Other notable budgets (adjusted for inflation)

List of expensive films that did not feature on either the Know Your Money or Forbes charts[15]
Movie name Year Production costs (est.)
War and Peace (4 parts) 1968 $700,000,000 (2007)[16]
Metropolis 1927 $204,000,000 (2006)[17]
Star Trek: The Motion Picture 1979 $163,400,000[citation needed]
Terminator 2: Judgment Day 1991 $102,000,000 (1991)[18]

[edit] See also

[edit] References and footnotes

  1. ^ The Internet Movie Database. 2009. Box office/business. [Online] Available at http://uk.imdb.com/ (budget information for a film can be found in the box office/business section under its main entry)[Accessed 25 July 2009]
  2. ^ Garrett, D., 2007. Big-budget bang-ups. Variety, [internet] 20 April. Available at http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117963551.html?categoryid=2526&cs=1 and archived at http://www.webcitation.org/5lLRXg73q[Accessed 16 November 2009]
  3. ^ Goldstein, P., 2009. The secret history of why Disney dumped 'Narnia'. Los Angeles Times, [internet] 19 January. Available at http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/the_big_picture/2009/01/the-secret-hist.html and archived at http://www.webcitation.org/5j3P3LCub[Accessed 15 August 2009]
  4. ^ McClintock, P., 2006. Singer's zinger: another 'Superman'. Variety, [internet] 30 October. Available at http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117952909.html?categoryid=13&cs=1 and archived at http://www.webcitation.org/5lLRtLaBV[Accessed 16 November 2009]
  5. ^ Gray, Tyler (November 6, 2009). "Destroying the Earth, Over and Over Again". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/movies/08gray.html. Retrieved November 15, 2009. 
  6. ^ Fritz, Ben (November 12, 2009). "Movie projector: '2012' will be big domestically, huge worldwide". LA Times. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2009/11/movie-projector-2012-will-be-big-domestically-huge-overseas.html. Retrieved November 15, 2009. 
  7. ^ Puig, Claudia (November 12, 2009). "'2012': Now that's Armageddon!". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/reviews/2009-11-13-2012rev13_ST_N.htm. Retrieved November 15, 2009. 
  8. ^ Pomerantz, Dorothy (November 12, 2009). Disaster At The Box Office!. Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/2009/11/12/2012-christmas-carol-business-entertainment-movies.html. Retrieved November 15, 2009. 
  9. ^ http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2007/DARKM.php
  10. ^ http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/1999/WLWST.php
  11. ^ http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2008/BBUTN.php
  12. ^ Know Your Money. 2008. The 10 Most Expensive Movies of All Time. [Online] (Updated 5 Nov 2008) Available at http://blog.knowyourmoney.co.uk/index.php/2008/11/the-10-most-expensive-movies-of-all-time/. [Accessed 24 June 2009].
  13. ^ Rose, L., 2006. Hollywood's Most Expensive Movies. Forbes, [internet] 18 December. Available at http://www.forbes.com/2006/12/18/movies-budget-expensive-tech-media-cx_lr_1214moviebudget.html [Accessed 24 June 2009]
  14. ^ Forbes has either miscalculated Superman's budget or has erroneously charted it, but since it is not known which, the error is retained here.
  15. ^ Whereas the Forbe's list adjusted for the value of the 2006 dollar, these amounts are reported from alternative sources in recent years so only provide a rough comparison.
  16. ^ "Sergei Bondarchuk's War and peace," Film Forum.
  17. ^ Value of USD$204 million calculated in 2006 Dollars. Movie cost listed as 5.3M reichsmarks (RM) in
    Isenberg, Noah (2009). Weimar Cinema: An Essential Guide to Classic Films of the Era. Columbia University Press. p. 173. ISBN 9780231130554. 
    Exchange rate of 1USD = 4.2RM used, and a 2006:1927 pricing multiplier of 48.68:1 taken from www.measuringworth.com
  18. ^ Terminator 2 was the first $100m film in real dollars when released in 1991.

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