10 Terrible Movies That Cost Way More Than They Needed To

2. How Do You Know - $120m

James L. Brooks' How Do You Know is definitive proof that star power alone is not enough to save a bad movie. Roping in a host of famous faces at great expense, the writer/director's tedious and mundane dramatic rom-com ended up costing $120m, which is a ridiculous number for what is usually a relatively inexpensive genre to produce.

As well as Brooks commanding a $10m fee, Reese Witherspoon was paid $15m for playing the lead, Owen Wilson and Paul Rudd were paid $10m and $3m respectively, while living legend Jack Nicholson picked up a cool $12m to play a supporting role in what remains his last big-screen appearance to date. That's $50m spent already before anyone's even stepped foot on set.

With a December 2010 release date locked in, How Do You Know was expected to be solid adult-orientated counter-programing to the family movies that usually dominate the box office during the holiday season. At least it was, until the reviews started coming in and it sank without a trace after just three weeks, losing the studio a fortune in the process.