10 Films That Cost WAY More Than They Needed To
8. Superman Returns - $204 Million
Hoping to turn the Superman brand into the next big franchise, Warner Bros. hurled every penny they could spare at the 2005 semi-reboot, Superman Returns. Even though its $200 million+ budget was unprecedented at the time, it felt warranted. While watching the scenes of Supes stopping a plane crash or lifting a continent into space, it's obvious a ton of money was needed for such visuals.
But the film's most expensive sequence was also the most pointless. In the prologue, Kal-El travels through space in a Kryptonian vessel to search for remains of his world.
If you don't remember this scene, that's because it got the chop! Director, Bryan Singer, felt like this sequence didn't gel with the rest of the story, so left it on the cutting room floor.
Although it's frustrating for any filmmaker to axe their work, it must've been crazy for the studio to learn this scene got the boot, especially since it cost $10 million. Considering Superman Returns barely made its money back, the producers must've been furious to learn 5% of the movie's budget was blown on a scene that wasn't even in the movie!