The Hollywood film industry is world-famous for its creative cinema, superb casting, amazing storytelling, and dynamic screenplay. But lately, it is also making news for its big-budget movies that are spending huge amounts of money on producing larger films for the audience to enjoy.
Given the fact that a large part of Hollywood movies today are based on fantasy adaptations of popular book series or comic characters, the directors are giving in everything to make those movies closer to reality. Most of this money in big-budget movies is spent on special effects, animation, and casting.
Going by the track record of these expensive Hollywood films, the money seems to be well spent as these movies don’t just entertain us but also set new standards for the budding filmmakers in the art of cinema.
So, here are the top 10 Most expensive Hollywood films of all time:
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Release Year: 2011
Budget: $378.5 million
The fourth and the latest installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean series, On Stranger Tides, is a stand-alone sequel to its previous films. As usual, the film stars the heart of the franchise, Johnny Depp, as Captain Jack Sparrow, who is joined by Angelica, portrayed by Penelope Cruz, for an adventurous journey in search of the Fountain of Youth. The movie also marks the first film of the hit franchise which is not directed by Gore Verbinski. The entire film was shot using 3D cameras similar to those used in the 2009 film Avatar, and ten companies were hired for the film’s visual effects, making the film set the record as the Most expensive film ever made in Hollywood history.
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Release Year: 2007
Budget: $300 million
The second most expensive Hollywood film also belongs the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End is a 2007 fantasy adventure film starring Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow directed by Gore Verbinski. The film was supposed to be the final installment of the franchise but later was revived by the 4th installment of the series featuring a different cast as a stand-alone sequel. At the time of its release in 2007, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End was the most expensive Hollywood film ever made. The movie was shot back to back with the previous installment, Dead Man’s Chest, in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Besides being one of the Most Expensive Films, At World’s End was a box office hit and also became the highest-grosser of the year 2007, earning over $960 million worldwide.
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Release Year: 2015
Budget: $279.9 million
The third movie on our list is Avengers: Age of Ultron, directed by Joss Whedon, a big-budget superhero film based on a Marvel Comics group called The Avengers. With an ensemble cast of Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L. Jackson, and many others, the movie features an array of popular superheroes like Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, etc. With a box office collection of over $1.4 billion worldwide, the film is the second highest-grosser superhero film, only preceded by its previous installment, The Avengers, and the sixth highest-grossing film of all time.
John Carter
Release Year: 2012
Budget: $263.7 million
John Carter is a 2012 science fiction fantasy movie that happens to be the only flop film on the list of expensive movies in the history of Hollywood cinema. Against a huge budget of $300 million that included both production and marketing costs, the film only grossed $284 million. The plot of John Carter is adapted from the novel A Princess of Mars, the first book of the Barsoom series written by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The film also marks the live-action debut of the successful animated film director Stanton, who directed Pixar animated movies Finding Nemo and WALL-E.
Tangled
Release Year: 2010
Budget: $260 million
Tangled is the only animated film among the top 10 expensive movies of Hollywood. Created with a production cost of over $260 million, the film took almost 6 long years to make. The movie is based on the German fairy tale “Rapunzel,” which is a story about a young princess with long magical hair who flees the secluded tower in order to see the outside and find the truth about her real identity. The film uses CGI, traditional animations, and non-photorealistic rendering to create an impression of painting-like visuals. Besides being the most expensive animated movie of all time, Tangled is also the 50th animated feature film produced under Walt Disney Animated Classics series. Tangled is the Most Expensive Animated Film ever.
Also Read: Best Animated Movies Ever
Spider-Man 3
Release Year: 2007
Budget: $258 million
Yet another Marvel Studios film, Spider-Man 3 is the third and final installment of the Spider-Man film trilogy directed by Sam Raimi starring Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man. The film follows the story right after Spider-Man 2, where Peter Parker deals with the dual life as a friend and an enemy of Harry Osborn, who is adamant about avenging his father’s death against Spider-Man. On the other hand, there are new villains like Sandman and Venom whom Spider-Man must deal with to protect the city’s people. Being the most action-packed movie compared to the other two installments, the final movie in Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy is the highest grosser, with a total box office collection of $890.9 million.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Release Year: 2009
Budget: $250 million
Based of the highly popular J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter book series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the sixth movie adaptation of the 6th book of the series with the same title. Directed by David Yates, the movie marks the record of being the 7th most expensive movie made in the history of Hollywood. With a total earnings of $934 million, the movie is also the 8th highest-grossing movie of all time and the 2nd highest-grossing film of 2009, falling behind the top-grosser Avatar. The movie got positive reviews both from the critics and at the box office.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Release Year: 2014
Budget: $250 million
Acting as a prequel to the famous The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is yet another fantasy adventure film based on The Hobbit novel series penned by J.R.R. Tolkien. It is the third and final installment of The Hobbit series, which is about the adventures of Bilbo Baggins, a Hobbit who aids the Dwarves in reclaiming the Lonely Mountain and its treasure from Dragon Smaug. With a collection of $956 million, The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies is the 30th highest-grossing film of all time.
Avatar
Release Year: 2009
Budget: $237 million
The current leader as the top-grosser movie of all time, the 2009 epic Sci-Fi film, Avatar is also the 9th most expensive movie ever made in Hollywood. The movie was scripted by the ace director James Cameron during the production of his 1997 film, Titanic. Because of the lack of proper technology, it took almost 10 years to finally start working on this epic adventure on the fictional planet of Pandora inhibited by the Na’vi, the blue-skinned, sapient humanoids. Besides being the first Hollywood movie to cross the $2 billion mark in earnings, Avatar has been setting many other benchmarks after its release.
The Dark Knight Rises
Release Year: 2012
Budget: $230 million
Directed by Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight Rises is the third and final installment in Nolan’s Batman film Trilogy starring Christian Bale as Batman. A sequel to the highly successful Batman Begins and tremendously acclaimed epic The Dark Knight, the movie features Bane as the main villain, along with Cat Woman, portrayed by Anne Hathaway, as the supporting character for Batman. Michael Caine, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman reprise their roles of the Butler – Alfred Pennyworth, Commissioner – James Gordon and Lucius Fox respectively as additional supporting cast in the final film of the trilogy. Second only to its predecessor, The Dark Knight Rises is the 2nd film based on the DC Comics character to earn over $1 billion. It is also the 15th highest-grossing film of all time and the fourth highest-grossing superhero film of all time.
