Theoretically, if you invest an impressive amount in the production of films by inviting the best screenwriters, directors and actors for the allocated funds, you should get at least a good movie.
But, alas, such a formula often fails. Otherwise, we would have received a conveyor for the production of masterpieces. So the biggest budget of the film in the world does not automatically make it high-quality and popular among the general public. Still, recognition of the tape requires something different, and not just a tidy sum on the account of the picture.
Looking at modern cinema, many viewers often ask themselves: what movie has the largest budget and what was it spent on? Some studios prefer to hide accurate financial data from the viewer, but in general you can still imagine the big picture.
We present to your attention the top films with the largest budget. Some paintings went down in history and were remembered for many years. Others became the next expensive rides, which are forgotten after a week or two, or even the next day. All figures below are adjusted for inflation.
1. "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" (2007)
Here we have the largest movie budget in history - $ 341 million. The picture brought the protagonist Johnny Depp fantastic $ 56 million. No male actor has ever received such a fee.
The producers were not mistaken, putting such a considerable amount of money on captain Jack Sparrow, because the canonical figure of the blockbusters brought them about $ 960 million in return. The film with the largest budget turned out to be really good and earned its place of honor in the legendary series.
2. “Avengers 3: Infinity War” (2018)
Another most expensive budget movie in movie history. About $ 300 million was spent on the picture. Naturally, the bulk of the budget was aimed at a fee to famous actors, of whom there are more than ever.
They gave at least as much for special effects that are literally at every turn. Judging by the reviews of critics, the film with the largest budget turned out to be quite worthy. The continuation of the superhero saga appealed to the general public, even despite such an unexpected ending to the tape.
The most expensive film on the budget fully justified the money invested in it, raising $ 2 billion at the box office. Such excellent returns can boast of units. But for films on the Marvel universe, this is already becoming the norm.
3. The Titanic (1997)
For its year, this is the film with the largest budget - $ 294 million. The construction of the ship alone cost half this amount. But James Cameron did not fail and created a real masterpiece, which many are revising to this day.
With the return on the movie with the biggest budget, all is well too. For the entire rental period, the tape has collected more than $ 2 billion worldwide, surpassing the previous member of the top.
4. “Spider-Man-3: The Enemy in Reflection” (2007)
The first version of the Spider-Man franchise appealed to viewers of all ages and gathered a considerable cash register. The third film was especially distinguished, in which $ 291 million was invested. Subsequently, Sony decided to restart the franchise and completely changed the cast.
New films received far from the most flattering reviews from critics, because only teenagers showed interest in restarting, and the older generation prefers to revise old versions of the film comic strip. This is also confirmed by the box office. “Enemy in Reflection” raised nearly 900 million dollars.
5. “Rapunzel: A Tangled Story” (2010)
The budget of the animated film surprised everyone. One of the most expensive cartoons cost Hollywood $ 281 million. The filmmakers explain such costs by the complexity of layout. In the production of the film, it was necessary to combine classic hand-drawn drawings with computer technology.
The creators wanted to show the audience the mood of the classic Disney product in modern realities. And they did it. Around the world, the picture raised almost $ 600 million, which is a very good result for animated films.
6. "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (2009)
Since the franchise’s first film, this film has featured the highest fees in the United States. Moreover, the budget was increased exactly twice, where about 275 million dollars were spent on the Half-Blood Prince.
Critics took the picture well, as did the audience. The continuation of the franchise brought the creators more than $ 900 million at the box office worldwide.
7. The Water World (1995)
Despite the fact that the film turned out to be atmospheric, beautiful and generally high-quality in many respects, the tape failed miserably at the box office. The budget allocated to her, and this is about 271 million dollars, she did not recapture, collecting a little more than 260 million.
The picture owes its failure to the pirates who distributed copies long before the premiere, not only in North America, but also around the world. Moreover, the version was, as it turned out, with an alternative ending. While the premiere was with a different finale.
8. "Pirates of the Caribbean-2" (2006)
The picture was an ideal start for the industry at that time, having collected almost $ 140 million over the first weekend. But the budget of the tape has grown significantly compared to the first franchise film. The producers invested about $ 262 million in the picture.
A decent budget due to the huge number of special effects. In two and a half hours of screen time there were more than 600 complex plans. The money invested paid off with interest. During the rental, the picture raised more than $ 1.6 billion.
9. Avatar (2009)
Surely many expected to see this picture in the first place. A huge number of special effects and an impressive cast cost James Cameron $ 261 million. But if we add here the advertising and promotion of the project, then the figure will approach 500 million.
The legendary filmmaker managed to release another masterpiece, which was accepted by critics and the general public with a bang. The tape has collected at the box office around the world a record $ 2.8 billion. Such a success could not be repeated by any picture.
Looking ahead, it is worth noting that for the continuation of the "Avatar", James Cameron has laid a budget of almost a billion dollars.
10. “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” (2012)
No one even suggested that a trilogy grown up on a thin book would become an epic saga and cost movie makers almost twice as much as The Lord of the Rings. The budget of "Unexpected Journey" amounted to about 260 million dollars.
One of the tangible expense items for the film was shooting a tape in 3D format. Peter Jackson did his best and guessed almost everything, from the cast to the studio for special effects. As a result, the picture raised more than $ 1 billion at the box office.
11. “The Dark Knight: Revival of the Legend” (2012)
This is the third film made on the basis of the cinematic universe "DC-comics" about the legendary Batman. The director did not follow the beaten and erroneous path of many filmmakers, where interest in trilogies faded with each subsequent tape.
After the second part of the superhero saga in 2008 raised almost a billion dollars at the box office, many realized that the third film would expect similar success. As a result, the $ 259 million spent on the tape paid off four times, bringing to the cashier also more than a billion.
12. John Carter (2012)
After the release of the film and several weeks of rental, Disney sent an official press release indicating significant losses. The budget of the film amounted to about $ 259 million, and this is not taking into account the promotion, where by modest standards the amount of $ 100 million was spent. At the same time, the film collected a little more than 250 million at the box office.
The film turned out to be atmospheric and beautiful, but critics brought down a flurry of negative reviews about the choice of actors for the main roles. In addition, the scriptwriters almost completely rewrote the characters of many key characters. And the meticulous viewers compared the film with the book, on which the movie was shot.
13. “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” (2003)
After the filming began, the creators wanted to keep within 170-180 million dollars, but apparently went into a rage and spent nearly 257 million. So the third part of the franchise can be called the most expensive. It is also worth noting that a considerable part of the money to replenish the budget was allocated by Arnold Schwarzenegger himself.
The fact is that “Iron Arnie” was very important that the shooting of the tape took place in Vancouver, and not in a more favorable for the film industry Los Angeles. The film turned out to be the first two parts, although, judging by the reviews of critics, he did not reach the bar set earlier. Nevertheless, the picture raised more than $ 430 million at the global box office, having recouped the investment.
14. “King Kong” (2005)
About 670 thousand dollars were spent on the very first film adaptation, released in 1933. But the 2005 film was directed by Peter Jackson, asking for 20 million for his services. And Naomi Watts was in the midst of her career and also demanded a rather big fee.
Numerous special effects can be added to this, and as a result, the budget of the picture grew to $ 254 million. The picture received not the best reviews, but on the whole it was accepted by the general public and collected around 420 million at the global box office, fully paying back the production costs.
15. “Avengers: Age of Ultron” (2015)
Here, as in the case of the last franchise film, we have stars of the first magnitude. So a good half of the budget, which is 251 million dollars, went to the actors' fees. Robert Downey Jr. requested almost 40 million, and Scarlett Johansson - 20 million, becoming the highest paid actress in Hollywood, pushing Angelina Jolie to a million (19 million for the movie "Tourist").
Interestingly, the Hulk was the least paid. Mark Ruffalo had to be content with a "modest" fee of 2.8 million. The producers argued that most of the screen time is occupied by the drawn character of the movie universe, and not the actor himself.
The film was successfully rented and raised almost $ 1.5 billion worldwide, which fully paid off the funds invested in it and in the venerable cast.
16. “Burnt by the Sun-2: The Citadel” (2011)
In conclusion, jumping over many Hollywood films, one can note the creativity of domestic film makers. The budgets of Russian films, of course, are much more modest than American ones, but it’s worth mentioning.
In 2011, Nikita Mikhalkov removed the continuation of the film "Burnt by the Sun." We invited the best Russian actors to the shooting. And in the end, we got the largest budget for the Russian film - $ 45 million.
The epicness of the film strip declared by marketers can be compared only with the epicity of its box office failure. The Citadel has collected only $ 1.5 million at the box office, which is thirty times less than the allocated budget.