Due to the secretive nature of Hollywood accounting it is not clear which film is the most expensive film ever made. Spider-Man 3 officially holds the record with an acknowledged cost of $258 million, while Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and its sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End were produced together on a combined budget of $450 million, making them the most expensive production. Although the Pirates of the Caribbeansequels shared many costs it is estimated that around $300 million was spent on producingAt World's End. More recently there have been reports that Avatar is the most expensive film ever made with speculation that it cost $280 million.
The cost of film production was mostly stable prior to World War II, with Ben-Hur (1925) setting an early record, which lasted well into the sound era. Costs started to escalate due to the effects of inflation and as television started to compete with the cinema for audiences, culminating in 1963 with Cleopatra which did not earn back its $44 million production costs despite being one of the highest earning films of the year. Cleopatra is still often cited as the most expensive film of all time, costing over $300 million when adjusted for inflation. The 1990s saw two thresholds crossed, with True Lies costing $100 million in 1994 and Titaniccosting $200 million in 1997, both directed by James Cameron. Since then it has become normal for a tent-pole feature from a major film studio to cost over $100 million, and an increasing number of films are costing $200 million or more.
This list contains only the films that are already released to the general public, and no films that are still in production, post-production or just announced films, for the reason that these costs can still change in the production process. Listed below is the negative cost: the costs of the actual filming, and not including promotional costs (i.e. advertisements, commercials, posters, etc.). The charts are ordered by official budget amounts where they are known. Most studios, however, will not give a statement on the actual production costs, so only estimates by professional researchers and movie industry writers are available. Where budget estimates conflict the productions are charted by lower-bound estimates.
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Only productions with a budget over a nominal value of $150 million U.S. dollars are listed here. Due to the effects of inflation, all but three of the films on the chart have been produced since the turn of the century, with Waterworld (1995) being the oldest film to be included. Nine films costing more than $150 million were produced in 2009, while only four films were produced in 2011.
| Rank | Titles | Year(s) | Cost (est.) (millions) | Refs & notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End | 2006–07 | $450 | [118][nb 1] |
| 2 | The Lord of the Rings film trilogy | 2001–03 | $260* | [119][120][nb 9] |
| 3 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 & Part 2 | 2010–11 | $250* | [121] |
| 4 | The Matrix Reloaded The Matrix Revolutions | 2003 | $237 | [nb 10] |
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