AVATAR Week: The 15 Most Expensive Movies Ever Made
Is Kevin Costner's "Waterworld" the most expensive movie of all time?
James Cameron's "Avatar" is set to open worldwide this Friday. For the past few years, rumors about Cameron's inflated budget have leaked all over press. It got me thinking about big films of the past, so I took a look back at production budgets on
Box Office Mojo, then used the
Inflation Calculator to see how much they would have cost in 2009 dollars.
And here they are! The 15 most expensive movies in Hollywood history.....
Related: 30 Most Groundbreaking Movies Ever
In this gallery
Arguably the best career choice Keanu Reeves made was choosing not to appear in this mega flop. Reports said the final boat crash scene cost more than the entire budget of the original film. The sequel would take in $220 million adjusted worldwide, barely enough to break even on production. Oops! 
What's the saying, bad things always come in three's? Whether or not this movie sucked, it still raked in $478 million adjusted worldwide. 
This Will Smith critical disaster barely squeaked by, pulling in $285 million adjusted worldwide. Something tells me Smith won't be wearing one of those stupid things around his neck when he's elected into the Box Office Hall of Fame.
The follow up to "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" carried a hefty budget and didn't deliver domestically, but it took in $420 million adjusted around the globe.
The Spidey sequel was a hit both critically and at the box office. It grossed $896 million adjusted worldwide.
Peter Jackson's remake did well with critics, but took a while to catch on with the public. It ended up grossing $608 million adjusted worldwide. 
T3 might not have done so well with critics, but the lady-terminator blasted up $508 million adjusted worldwide.
Disney put forth plenty of booty for the "Pirates" sequel. It paid off, grossing over $1 BILLION adjusted worldwide.
"The people live underwater!" "But how do they breathe?" "The have gills!" That conversation happened somewhere in Hollywood in the early 90's, and the result was "Waterworld," now known as one of the biggest flops in movie history. It grossed $124 million domestically, but did better worldwide.
Three villains too many made this the most expensive Spidey film yet. The film debuted to the biggest box office weekend ever, and raked in a total of $927 million worldwide.
Stories of James Cameron's tyrannical behavior on the set of "Titanic" are something of legend. The budget escalated out of control. Cameron faced threats of the studio removing him from his post. "Titanic" eventually became the biggest movie of all time, grossing $2.48 billion adjusted worldwide, giving Cameron a blank check to work on future projects.
Why....so....SERIOUS?! Brian Singer's "Superman Returns" was one of the suprising flops of its time. You'd think a big-budget Superman blowout would be a winner, but Singer went more the dramatic route. Audiences didn't respond. The film only grossed $419 million worldwide, not enough to offset the time and marketing that supplemented the huge budget.
Elizabeth Taylor's massive 192-minute epic is considered one of the biggest flops in movie history. But "Cleopatra" was fortunate to be released in the years before VCRs and multi-plexes. It ran in theaters long enough to make its money back and then some, grossing $402 million adjusted in the United States alone. 
Buy a continent or make a movie? That's the territory the "Pirates" movies are in. The latest epic raked in just over $1 billion adjusted, nearly three times its massive budget.
Did I mention James Cameron had a blank check after "Titanic?" 20th Century Fox has not yet released an official productoin budget for "Avatar," but reports of at least $230 on the production alone have surfaced. Others have factored in the cost out of Cameron's own pocket over the 15 years he's been dreaming up the film, along with other investors helping foot the bill, and the $500 million mark was born. Again, until we get official numbers, "Avatar's" placement at #1 is tentative. But creating an entire alien world can't be cheap. For Cameron's sake, let's hope it's profitable.
15. Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997) - $215 million adjusted budget
Arguably the best career choice Keanu Reeves made was choosing not to appear in this mega flop. Reports said the final boat crash scene cost more than the entire budget of the original film. The sequel would take in $220 million adjusted worldwide, barely enough to break even on production. Oops!
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1 Comment
James McDagger said:
Adjusted budget for War and Peace from 1968 gives it a production cost on $621 million. Shouldn´t it top the list?
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