10 Most Expensive Movies Ever Made (Without Adjusting for Inflation)
Hollywood is a place where the streets are quite literally paved with gold–or at least, gold stars.
There’s so much money being pumped into the film industry these days that we simply had to take a look at the most expensive movies ever made, and we can even tell you where to watch them all.
After the release of Netflix flick The Electric State, it was revealed that the Russo Brothers’ movie was one of the most expensive productions of all time. That’s a mind-blowing fact, and one that the streaming service might end up regretting given the reaction to the release.
But it still opens up a fascinating discussion on the true cost of filmmaking. So, here are the most expensive movies ever made, without adjusting the budgets for inflation, and where you can stream the films in question.
Honourable mentions
Avengers: Infinity War - $325m
The Electric State - $320m
The Marvels - $307m
$447m
In a galaxy far, far away, the most expensive movie of all time was crafted by J.J. Abrams and co. Star Wars: The Force Awakens delighted fans in 2015, ten years after the previous instalment in the Skywalker Saga, and it brought back the original trilogy heroes Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher, which is probably why it cost so much to make.
The film cost a whopping $15m more than its nearest competitor, but based on how incredible it is and how special it was to return to George Lucas’ world and see those characters again, we’d say it was worth every penny.
$432m
Bringing dinosaurs back to life is clearly a very expensive venture, and no expense was spared in bringing Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom to the silver screen back in 2018. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas-Howard led the reboot of the classic film series in 2015, and they returned with this sequel from J.A. Bayona, which explored the morality of profiteering off of dinosaurs and put the story into a haunted house setting.
It’s an interesting paradox that this film’s themes are mirrored by the real-world success of the franchise, but hey, dinosaurs are cool, and cool things deserve to make a lot of money.
$416m
If you hadn’t guessed already, making films about a giant war in space can see production costs rack up pretty quickly, and the Star Wars dominance of this list continues with the much-maligned Skywalker Saga closer from 2019. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker made plenty of missteps when it comes to the story at the heart of it, and was a very disappointing end to the beloved franchise for most fans.
Costing a massive $416m to make, let’s just say it’s a good job this film made over $1 billion at the box office, because it certainly didn’t get any critical success.
$379m
The Fast and Furious franchise is all about family, fancy cars, speed, and hard-hitting action, but none of that comes cheap; just look at the budget for Fast X if you don’t believe us. With each new entry in the franchise, it seems Dominic Toretto and his crew get up to crazier and crazier stunts and after F9 took things into the stratosphere, literally, the tenth movie needed to step up with something even bigger.
Ultimately, like a lot of films these days, it’s the massive cast that takes up a huge chunk of the production budget, and they spared no expense on Fast X in assembling every major player from the franchise.
$379m
The first of two movies from this franchise to make the list, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, matched the production budget of Fast X, which is saying something, especially given it was made more than ten years earlier.
As well as an A-List cast, the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise also boasts some of the most impressive CGI in movie history. That can be pretty expensive, of course, but the fact that it still remains among the best and most convincing even by today’s standards is a testament to money well spent back in 2011.
$356m
When Tony Stark tries to jumpstart a dormant peacekeeping program, things go awry and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are put to the ultimate test as the fate of the planet hangs in the balance. As the villainous Ultron emerges, it is up to The Avengers to stop him from enacting his terrible plans, and soon uneasy alliances and unexpected action pave the way for an epic and unique global adventure.
$351m
After the devastating events of Avengers: Infinity War, the universe is in ruins due to the efforts of the Mad Titan, Thanos. With the help of remaining allies, the Avengers must assemble once more in order to undo Thanos' actions and restore order to the universe once and for all, no matter what consequences may be in store.
$350m
Post-COVID, movies just seem to be getting more expensive, but to be fair, when you’re dealing with a magic superhero flying through the very fabric of reality in the multiverse, you’re going to need to spend some cash to make that look good. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is an ambitious project, to say the least, but you can’t deny it does have a distinct and effective visual style.
There’s also the small matter of that impressive roster Marvel put together for the Illuminati. Patrick Stewart surely doesn’t come cheap, and the fact that he’s back for the Avengers: Doomsday cast, along with a million other actors, suggests we could be adding a new entry to this list very soon.
The third highest-grossing movie of all time, behind Avengers: Endgame and its own predecessor, Avatar: The Way of Water, was always going to cost a pretty penny. The worlds that James Cameron builds on Pandora and beyond are truly stunning, and a real technical achievement, but to make it all work, the franchise has cost upwards of $550m already, with more to come.
Cameron is continually pushing the boundaries of what is possible with digital filmmaking, and the funny thing is, he keeps on making incredible returns at the box office to make it all worth it and fund the next adventure.
$330m
Honestly, of all the movies on this list, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is probably the most difficult one to defend when it comes to justifying such a bloated budget. To spend $330m on a film and yet still produce something as that nightmare-inducing version of M.O.D.O.K is quite bizarre, really, and it’s difficult to know where the money actually went, as it surely didn’t go to the CGI department.
While the film has its highlights, including the backstory behind Kang the Conqueror, Scott Lang’s threequel is a real disappointment, especially after the first two movies in his mini-series were so much fun. It was also a flop at the box office for Marvel, which must have hurt, given the studio’s impressive run of success beforehand.
