Top 10 Most Expensive Movies Ever Made, Check Complete List

This article explores the 10 most expensive movies ever made, focusing on those that have already been released to the public. It provides insight into the production costs, historical context, and factors that contributed to the skyrocketing budgets of these cinematic masterpieces. This list is based on independently audited or officially acknowledged budgets, highlighting the financial challenges and complexities of modern filmmaking.

While film financing records tend to hide the true cost of films, accurately determining the largest production budgets remains elusive. Legally, Star Wars: The Episode VII – The Force Awakens is considered the most expensive with an announced price of $447 million. However, it is possible that Avatar: The Way of Water could surpass this number if its production budget reaches the upper limit of cost estimates positioned in the range of $350–460 million. Strange accounting habits have obscured Hollywood’s biggest investments, complicating efforts to distinguish the most lavishly produced motion picture in history.

List of 10 most expensive movies by production budget

This list only includes films that have been released to the public, excluding films that are still in production or post-production as costs may fluctuate during production. The figures provided reflect net negative costs, which refer to costs directly related to the actual filming. These figures do not include promotional costs, such as advertising, advertisements or posters, and they take into account any tax subsidies received. Here is the list:

Ranking	Title	Year	Cost (estimated) (million)
1	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	2015	447 million USD
2	Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom	2018	432 million USD
3	Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker	2019	416 million USD
4	Fast X	2023	379 million USD
5	Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides	2011	379 million USD
6	Avengers: Age of Ultron	2015	365 million USD
7	Avengers: Endgame	2019	356 million USD
8	Doctor Strange in the crazy multiverse	2022	351 million USD
9	Avatar: The Way of Water	2022	350 million USD
10	Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania	2023	330 million USD

Inflation in production costs, advances in cinematography, and fluctuations in external market demand all affect the economic balance of filmmaking. During the silent era, costs gradually increased, with Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925) setting a record unsurpassed during the talkie era. During the 1950s and early 1960s, the rise of television led to higher production costs as cinema competed for audiences, leading to epics such as Cleopatra (1963) being made. Although Cleopatra was the highest-grossing film that year, its huge budget made it unprofitable during its initial theatrical run.

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During the silent film era, the cost of making films increased steadily as films became longer and more ambitious, with advances in technology and equipment contributing to increased costs. The first film with a production budget of $1 million or more is unknown, and several legends have emerged over time. For example, DW Griffith’s Intolerance (1916) was rumored to have cost $2 million, but records show it cost $385,906.77. Similarly, A Daughter of the Gods (1916) was advertised as having a multi-million dollar budget, but Variety estimated its actual cost at $850,000. The first film confirmed to have a budget of $1 million was Foolish Wives (1922), which the studio billed as “The First Real Million Dollar Movie”.

The list is sorted by budget that has been independently audited or officially acknowledged by the production company if applicable. However, because most companies do not disclose actual production costs, this list is often based on estimates provided by professional researchers and writers in the film industry. In cases where budget estimates differ, products are listed based on lower bound estimates.