In the past decade or so, the most expensive movie budgets have ballooned to unbelievable levels. It’s not uncommon to see a movie eclipse a $200 million these days, which is something that was almost unheard of just a few short years ago. These big budgets show studios betting big on franchise movies that they know are guaranteed to make a lot of money at the box office. However, some movies with gigantic budgets turn out to be gigantic flops.
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Different sources will offer different figures for a movie’s budget, so it can sometimes be hard to ascertain exactly how much a certain movie costs. Trade insiders can make educated guesses, but tax breaks, accounting tricks and conflicting stories mean that most movie budgets aren’t exact. However, the biggest budgets attract the most attention, so people can be fairly confident when they are analyzing the most expensive movie ever. Some studios gamble big and lose, but most movies with budgets exceeding $200 million or $300 million become huge hits.
The figures in this article come from
the-numbers.com
.
Other sources may give different budget estimates.
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Related 25 Biggest Box Office Bombs Of All Time
From Pixar flops to Western catastrophes to CGI messes and franchises that never took off, these are the 20 biggest box office failures of all time.
1
15 The Marvels (2023)
$274.8 Million
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9/10 16 6.8/10 The Marvels
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*Availability in US Director Nia DaCosta Release Date November 10, 2023 Cast Brie Larson , Zawe Ashton , Teyonah Parris , Iman Vellani , Samuel L. Jackson , Park Seo-joon , Zenobia Shroff , Mohan Kapur , Saagar Shaikh , Gary Lewis
The MCU has been consistently making some of the most expensive movies in the world for years, but it has such an immense global fan base that these big budgets are completely justified. Despite their big price tags, Marvel movies can usually be relied on to turn a healthy profit, but The Marvels is a rare exception to this rule, and it only made $199.7 million. There have been plenty of theories about why The Marvels suffered at the box office, ranging from the SAG-AFTRA strikes hampering the promotion to the lack of A-list superheroes on show.
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14 Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker (2019)
$275 Million
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Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Director J.J. Abrams Release Date December 18, 2019 Cast Carrie Fisher , Mark Hamill , Daisy Ridley , Adam Driver , John Boyega , Oscar Isaac , Anthony Daniels , Naomi Ackie , Domhnall Gleeson , Richard E. Grant , Lupita Nyong’o , Keri Russell , Joonas Suotamo , Kelly Marie Tran , Ian McDiarmid , Billy Dee Williams , Greg Grunberg , Shirley Henderson , Billie Lourd , Dominic Monaghan , Hassan Taj , Lee Towersey , Brian Herring , Dave Chapman , Richard Guiver Expand
Like the MCU, the Star Wars franchise also splashes the cash, knowing that it will usually see a healthy return on investment. Most Star Wars movies perform well at the box office, and The Rise of Skywalker was no different, making $1.07 billion at the box office. This huge commercial success is hampered by the mediocre reception that The Rise of Skywalker got from both critics and fans of the franchise. After The Last Jedi took things in a controversial new direction, The Rise of Skywalker seemed to walk things back without creating any interesting original ideas.
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13 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
$280.2 Million
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8/10 12 8.8/10 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
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*Availability in US Director Gareth Edwards Release Date December 13, 2016 Cast Felicity Jones , Diego Luna , Ben Mendelsohn , Donnie Yen , Mads Mikkelsen , Alan Tudyk , Jiang Wen , Forest Whitaker
Disney’s first standalone Star Wars movie expanded the franchise in new ways, and it was a big success both commercially and critically. Its $1.05 billion box office returns and its 84% Rotten Tomatoes score illustrate its appeal. Almost a decade later, it’s still arguably the best Star Wars movie of the Disney era. Rogue One follows a group of rebels, all of whom are characters never seen before on the big screen, as they try to infiltrate an Imperial base to extract the schematics for the Death Star. This fun heist story leads directly into A New Hope, and it also patches one of the franchise’s biggest plot holes in the process.
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12 Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)
$290 Million
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9/10 6.5/10 Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning
Director Christopher McQuarrie Release Date July 12, 2023 Cast Tom Cruise , Ving Rhames , Simon Pegg , Rebecca Ferguson , Vanessa Kirby , Haley Atwell , Shea Whigham , Pom Klementieff , Esai Morales , Rob Delaney , Henry Czerny , Cary Elwes
The Mission: Impossible franchise has gotten better and better over the years. Tom Cruise has delivered more daring stunts, the action scenes have gotten more creative, and the stakes have been consistently raised. This culminated in the franchise’s most expensive movie, Dead Reckoning Part One. The $566 million box office gross would be a soaring success for most movies, but it was a slight disappointment for Mission: Impossible. Part of its weak performance can be attributed to the fact that it went up against both Barbie and Oppenheimer at the summer box office. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning will likely have a similar budget, or an even bigger one.
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11 Justice League (2017)
$300 Million
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6/10 4/10 Justice League
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*Availability in US Director Zack Snyder Release Date November 17, 2017 Cast Jeremy Irons , Gal Gadot , Amy Adams , Jesse Eisenberg , Ciarán Hinds , Ben Affleck , Henry Cavill , Ezra Miller , J. K. Simmons , Jason Momoa , Ray Fisher
DC movies rarely have budgets as big as the MCU, so Justice League is a rare exception. However, Justice League‘s $665.9 million box office gross shows that DC still can’t compete with the MCU in terms of profit. Although the movie offered a chance to see the DC’s biggest heroes teaming up, it was hampered by negative reviews, and a 39% Rotten Tomatoes score may have turned potential audiences away. The calls soon began for the release of the so-called “Snyder Cut,” an extended version of Justice League which was released in 2021 to a more positive response.
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10 Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
$300 Million
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6/10 16 9/10 Avengers: Infinity War
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*Availability in US Director Joe Russo , Anthony Russo Release Date April 27, 2018 Cast Chris Hemsworth , Anthony Mackie , Elizabeth Olsen , Robert Downey Jr. , Scarlett Johansson , Mark Ruffalo , Sebastian Stan , Paul Rudd , Chadwick Boseman , Don Cheadle , Samuel L. Jackson , Josh Brolin , Tom Holland , Evangeline Lilly , Paul Bettany , Chris Evans , Jeremy Renner Expand
Avengers: Infinity War was famously labeled as the most ambitious crossover event in the history of cinema. The MCU’s most prestigious team of superheroes were joined by dozens of other popular characters, including the Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man and Black Panther. Marvel went all in on Infinity War, and this gamble paid off to the tune of $2.05 billion. This makes it one of the highest-grossing movies of all time, and it also received positive reviews from critics. Infinity War is everything a big-budget blockbuster should be. It provides crowdpleasing entertainment and eye-popping spectacle.
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9 Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End (2007)
$300 Million
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10/10 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
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*Availability in US Director Gore Verbinski Release Date May 19, 2007 Cast Johnny Depp , Geoffrey Rush , Orlando Bloom , Keira Knightley , Jack Davenport , Bill Nighy
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End is something of an outlier among the most expensive movies ever made, because it’s the only movie near the top which was made before 2010. It set a new record for the biggest budget of all time by a considerable margin, but At World’s End made $961 million at the box office, showing that Disney were wise to back it. After two movies in the franchise which were just as popular, At World’s End was always expected to do well. It’s mediocre critical reception continued the franchise’s downward trajectory, but this had little impact on how audiences responded to it.
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8 Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
$330.4 Million
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6/10 13 7/10 Solo: A Star Wars Story
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*Availability in US Director Ron Howard Release Date May 25, 2018 Cast Alden Ehrenreich , Joonas Suotamo , Woody Harrelson , Emilia Clarke , Donald Glover , Thandiwe Newton , Phoebe Waller-Bridge , Paul Bettany , Jon Favreau , Erin Kellyman , Linda Hunt , Ian Kenny , John Tui , Anna Francolini , Andrew Woodall , Warwick Davis , Shaquille Ali-Yebuah , Eben Figueiredo , Aaron Heffernan Expand
Solo: A Star Wars Story was famously hit by troubles behind the scenes, with Ron Howard replacing Phil Lord and Christopher Miller as director midway through production. Solo also struggled at the box office, making just $393 million, which represents a damaging loss when taking the marketing and distribution costs into account. It’s Disney’s lowest-grossing Star Wars movie by some distance, and it forced the studio to reassess the future of the Star Wars franchise. Several projects were either shelved or turned into TV shows for Disney+. The franchise is currently gearing up to return to theaters once more.
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7 Fast X (2023)
$340 Million
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6/10 7.2/10 Fast X
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*Availability in US Director Louis Leterrier Release Date May 19, 2023 Cast Vin Diesel , Michelle Rodriguez , Jason Statham , Jordana Brewster , Tyrese Gibson , Ludacris , Nathalie Emmanuel , Charlize Theron
The Fast and Furious franchise has been consistently turning massive profits for decades, and the budgets have been steadily increasing as a result. Fast X came with the franchise’s biggest budget yet, but its $714.5 million box office return was something of a disappointment. For comparison, the franchise’s last movie before the pandemic, The Fate of the Furious, made over $1.2 billion on a much smaller budget. With Fast and Furious 11 coming in 2025, the budget will probably be similar to that of Fast X, with plenty of big-name actors and explosive stunts to pay for.
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6 Avengers: Age Of Ultron (2015)
$365 Million
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7/10 17 7.2/10 Avengers: Age of Ultron
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*Availability in US Director Joss Whedon Release Date May 1, 2015 Cast Chris Hemsworth , Clark Gregg , Robert Downey Jr. , Cobie Smulders , Aaron Taylor-Johnson , Jeremy Renner , Thomas Kretschmann , Chris Evans , Don Cheadle , Mark Ruffalo , Elizabeth Olsen , Scarlett Johansson , Paul Bettany , Samuel L. Jackson , James Spader Expand
The second Avengers movie had a much bigger budget than the first, although it made slightly less money at the box office. Age of Ultron made a healthy $1.4 billion, proving that 2012’s The Avengers was no fluke. Age of Ultron also took a slight step down with critics, although its 76% Rotten Tomatoes score is nothing to be ashamed of. Much worse movies have made more money at the box office, so it wouldn’t be entirely wise to attribute the dip in profit to the dip in quality. However, Age of Ultron does stand out as a relatively low point in the Avengers franchise.
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5 Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)
$379 Million
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4/10 6.5/10 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
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*Availability in US Director Rob Marshall Release Date May 7, 2011 Cast Johnny Depp , Penelope Cruz , Geoffrey Rush , Sam Claflin , Ian McShane , Kevin R. McNally
After Pirates of the Caribbean shattered the record for the most expensive movie ever with 2007’s At World ‘s End, the franchise did the same once again for 2011’s On Stranger Tides. Once again, the movie was met by a massive box office gross and a mediocre critical response. On Stranger Tides continued the franchise’s downward spiral with critics, and it’s also the first Pirates of the Caribbean to have a rotten audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. This didn’t damage the film’s commercial prospects too much, as On Stranger Tides made $1.05 billion at the global box office.
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4 Avengers: Endgame (2019)
$400 Million
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9/10 9.3/10 Avengers: Endgame
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*Availability in US Director Anthony Russo , Joe Russo Release Date April 26, 2019 Cast Robert Downey Jr. , Chris Evans , Mark Ruffalo , Chris Hemsworth , Scarlett Johansson , Jeremy Renner , Josh Brolin , Don Cheadle , Paul Rudd , Benedict Cumberbatch , Chadwick Boseman , Brie Larson , Tom Holland , Karen Gillan , Zoe Saldana , Evangeline Lilly , Tessa Thompson , Rene Russo , Elizabeth Olsen , Anthony Mackie , Sebastian Stan , Tom Hiddleston , Danai Gurira , Benedict Wong , Pom Klementieff , Dave Bautista , Letitia Wright , John Slattery , Tilda Swinton , Jon Favreau , Hayley Atwell , Natalie Portman , Marisa Tomei , Taika Waititi Expand
After Infinity War made big money on a big budget, Endgame upped the ante once more. Marvel’s most expensive movie of all time was an enormous box office success, making $2.75 billion. This may have set the bar too high for the MCU, as recent comments about “superhero fatigue” have invariably compared box office numbers to the studio’s biggest hits from before the pandemic. Endgame was $400 million well spent for Disney, although considering the history of the MCU, it was hardly a gamble.
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3 Indiana Jones & The Dial Of Destiny (2023)
$402.3 Million
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6/10 6/10 Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
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*Availability in US Director James Mangold Release Date June 30, 2023 Cast Boyd Holbrook , Thomas Kretschmann , Mads Mikkelsen , Harrison Ford , Phoebe Waller-Bridge , Shaunette Renée Wilson
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny was the franchise’s first movie in 15 years, so it was a bold gamble to give it a budget over twice as large as Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Still, Disney could have reasonably expected Dial of Destiny to perform much better at the box office than it did, as it made just $383.9 million, which is roughly half of what Kingdom of the Crystal Skull made. Dial of Destiny is set much later than other Indiana Jones movies, but it retreads the same territory, with Indy battling the Nazis for a powerful ancient artifact. With its lack of originality, some bland action scenes and gratuitous use of CGI de-aging, Dial of Destiny turned out to be an expensive mess.
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2 Avatar: The Way Of Water (2022)
$460 Million
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8/10 8.8/10 Avatar: The Way of Water
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*Availability in US Director James Cameron Release Date December 16, 2022 Cast Sam Worthington , Zoe Saldana , Sigourney Weaver , Stephen Lang , Kate Winslet , Vin Diesel , Michelle Yeoh , Cliff Curtis , David Thewlis
After the first Avatar became the highest-grossing movie of all time, it’s a little surprising that it took so long for a sequel to come around. James Cameron has been one of the most consistently successful directors in terms of box office revenue, and Avatar: The Way of Water continued this trend with a seismic $2.3 billion haul. The upcoming Avatar: Fire and Ash may have a final budget of around $250 million according to reports, but it stands a reasonable chance of making just as much money. There are a total of three Avatar movies currently in development.
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1 Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
$533.2 Million
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8/10 14 7.4/10 Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens
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*Availability in US Director J.J. Abrams Release Date December 17, 2015 Cast Daisy Ridley , John Boyega , Oscar Isaac , Harrison Ford , Mark Hamill , Carrie Fisher , Adam Driver , Andy Serkis , Lupita Nyong’o , Max Von Sydow , Peter Mayhew , Simon Pegg
Disney kicked off the new era of the Star Wars franchise with the most expensive movie ever, and it may take a long time for this record to be broken. The Force Awakens is a triumphant return for many beloved Star Wars characters, and the plot also resembles elements from the original trilogy, with a masked villain and a planet-destroying weapon. However, The Force Awakens also introduces the new characters who carry the franchise into its future. The Force Awakens combined nostalgia with some cutting-edge effects to spectacular effect, making $2.05 billion at the box office. It remains the highest-grossing Star Wars movie by far.
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