Himanshi
When it comes to the most expensive movies in the world, the more the budget required implies, the more risk there is. Of course, there are many directors who work directly in the million-dollar range. Therefore, we have curated a list of the biggest-budget movies.
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Most Expensive Movies
Justice League
Original Budget: $300 million
Original Box Office Return: $658 million
Before the Snyder Cut (Zach Synder’s Justice league movie) in Justice League, there were many issues in production associated with Solo but once it was released, it won many hearts on the big screen. There was a shift in director, and the movie experienced too many re-shoots and added extra scenes. However, the movie got a second life and more popularity under Snyder’s cut which was released later.
The Rise of Skywalker
Original Budget: $275 million
Original Box Office Return: $1.078 billion
The Rise of Skywalker was a financial success but not that of a Disney house Star Wars film. This movie was directed by J.J. Abrams and was released in 2019. Carrie Fisher could be spotted as a lead in the film. Lucasfilm is a massive franchise and is involved in the making of this movie as well. It is believed that no matter how much money they spend, they will most certainly turn a profit.
Solo: A Star Wars Story
Original Budget: $275 million
Original Box Office Return: $393 million
There is something slightly unsettling with the fact that the most costly Star Wars film to make is a spinoff. Solo: A Star Wars Story is known to be an American Space movie that was surrounded by the theme of Star Wars. This movie was released in 2018. In this movie, Alden Ehrenreich starred. However, the situation on set was not all roses, and the filming faced a number of significant problems. It replaced its director during filming, and nearly two-thirds of the scenes were re-shot.
John Carter
Original Budget: $264 million
Original Box Office Return: $284 million
John Carter is a shocking horror story that was released by Hollywood’s most famous studios, Walt Disney Pictures. It is one of the most significant failures in the field of cinematographic revenues, and it is rather intriguing to think about all the circumstances that have assisted this failure in taking place. It is believed that this can possibly be attributed to Disney not putting enough effort into properly promoting the movie.
Batman v Superman
Original Budget: $263 million
Original Box Office Return: $872 million
Taking into account the tax incentives, the budget estimated for Batman v Superman was $ 263,000,000. It is something that director Zack Snyder would surpass in his sequel to the DCEU Justice League. This movie is the first one to feature Batman and Superman together and was therefore, known to be one-of-a-kind. Moreover, it was the first one to portray live-action in a cinematic way. This movie was released in 2016 in the month of March.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Original Budget: $262 million
Original Box Office Return: $1.333 billion
The Last Jedi “conquered” the world box office. It was the first actual big-budget commercial film from China in 2013. It has essentially turned into one of the most unique additions to the Skywalker saga, that attracted the audiences to attend the theatres to watch this movie on big screen.
The Lion King (2019)
Original Budget: $260 million
Original Box Office Return: $1.663 billion
It is an animated movie that was produced and released in 2019. When comparing 2019’s The Lion King with the original animation, one can directly observe that marketing can significantly impact the total cost of film production.
It has been reported that the production expenses of the movie, including everything from building sets, paying cast and crew, and acquiring equipment, summed up to around $260 million. But it turned out that according to marketing reports, the cost of making the film was substantially more – it was around $400 million.
Tangled
Original Budget: $260 million
Original Box Office Return: $592 billion
This looks surprising as fans would expect an animated film styled in the Disney way to a retelling cost relatively less. Still, the high budget should be explained by the use of both traditional drawing techniques and computer graphics in the film.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Original Budget: $259 million
Original Box Office Return: $2.066 billion
Those who are more specific about the genre often refer to it as a cinematic documentary. Comparatively, the Force Awakens did not come with heavy CGI as compared to the episodes of the prequels. It had the use of real sets and props more often than its competitors. Therefore, it costs over twice the budget. Surprisingly, it was revealed that shooting on location is not, per se, cheaper than shooting on a green screen backdrop and added a significant amount to the making of this movie.
Spider-Man 3 
Original Budget: $258 million
Original Box Office Return: $895 million
This movie was provided by Hollywood’s well-known studio for increasing the scale of sequels – with Spider-Man 3 being a perfect example of this phenomenon. It was reported that one of the producers for the movie spoke to Rotten Tomatoes about the film and said that “our visual effects budget was probably 30% higher, and I think that’s reflected in the number of action sequences”.
The talent that this movie featured helped in making money in each of the following successive film as well, which they well deserved. So that’s where the increase in the budget came.
Beauty and the Beast 
Original Budget: $255 million
Original Box Office Return: $1.264 billion
Disney, in recent years, has taken upon itself the task of remaking all of its quotidian animations into the genre of live-action. However, animation doesnot seem downright affordable, bearing in mind some of these films, for instance, ‘Beauty and the Beast’, which was made for $255 million at the time of production in Europe.
The Fate of the Furious
Original Budget: $250 million
Original Box Office Return: $1.239 billion
The Fast & Furious series has evolved a lot. The original film, which is a traditional crime thriller, only costed thirty-eight million US dollars. Note that by the eighth sequel that transpired internationally, the movie cost increased to $250 million. The director of this movie was F. Gary, and the film was released in 2017. Many famous stars such as Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Charlize Theron, and Michelle Rodriguez could be spotted in this movie.
No Time to Die 
Original Budget: $250 million
Original Box Office Return: $730 million
Given the tradition of every next James Bond film is known to outperform the previous one in terms of the final price, it is only fitting that the real price of No Time to Die is quite heavy. Whereas it has widely been stated that the budget was less than $250 million, Variety of sources estimated the figure to be as high as $300 million due to the COVID-19 pandemic that delayed most of the shootings.
Furious 7 
Original Budget: $250 million
Original Box Office Return: $1.516 billion
To begin with, Furious 7 was going to cost roughly around $190 million only. Nevertheless, due to the unfortunate death of a star, Paul Walker, the behind the scene team had to rely on scraps and digital effects in the making of this movie to finish without him. It suddenly meant that the budget had to soar close to $250 million.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Original Budget: $250 million
Original Box Office Return: $934 million
The sixth movie in the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, is known to be the most costly movie in the series. The cause of this can be explained in two ways. One of them is that the actors had been around longer than usual. Secondly, the film used a lot of CGI and it is well known that it is not cheap to include in a movie.
Spectre
Original Budget: $245 million
Original Box Office Return: $881 million
The internet was buzzing with information that had leaked from the Sony mail after the report that Spectre initially was planned to have a much fatter budget. However, the forces that are managed to negotiate it down to the mid-200s when rebates are given. Still, it’s a “rich-looking” movie that captured eyes and hearts of many on the big screen.
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Avatar
Original Budget: $237 million
Original Box Office Return: $2.847 billion
With regard to the outstanding technical innovations in the moviemaking process, it is surprising that the movie Avatar does not rank higher on this list. When it was released, it really was the most expensive picture in film history, but to the modern blockbusters of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it lost its title reasonably quickly.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
Original Budget: $230 million
Original Box Office Return: $750 million
This will not be the only movie on this list from the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. It is ranked, however, as the one that grossed the least domestically in the entire series. That’s why the 2017 film successfully halted any plans for a potential sixth entry in the series. Many celebrities include Johnny Depp, Javier Bardem, and Kaya Scodelario, could be seen in the movie. Furthermore, this movie was believed to be an iconic comeback of Johnny Depp in the big cinema.
Captain America: Civil War 
Original Budget: $230 million
Original Box Office Return: $1.153 billion
It’s interesting to think of the movie Captain America which featured the Spider-Man becoming a part of the Civil War. It is believed that there was a script draft executed by Sony without Spider-Man’s participation, but, as it turned out, the movie provided the web-slinger with a brilliant entry of the Spider man.
The Dark Knight Rises
Original Budget: $230 million
Original Box Office Return: $1.081 billion
There was a lot of pressure in sequelizing The Dark Knight Rises because such an incredible film had been released before it. After Heath Ledger’s Joker, the sequel had to, in some way, surpass it, and that was done in the right way in this movie. In comparison to its predecessor, the film did not excel for most people, but this was indeed a real challenge that the movie has successfully surpassed.
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