10 Most Expensive DELETED Movie Scenes Ever

10. The Wizard Of Oz's Jitterbug Dance Cost...$80,000

Wizard of Oz Judy Garland
MGM

The first cut of The Wizard of Oz clocked in at almost two hours in length, and due to the average movie runtime being about 90 minutes back in 1939, director Victor Fleming had to get ruthless, ultimately cutting 20 minutes' worth of material from the final film.

This resulted in several completed musical sequences receiving the chop, most controversially "The Jitterbug," which would see Dorothy (Judy Garland), the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger), the Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr), and the Tin Man (Jack Haley) attacked by bugs in the Haunted Woods as they headed to the Wicked Witch's (Margaret Hamilton) castle.

It was an especially painful cut as the scene took five weeks to shoot at a cost of $80,000, amounting to almost 3% of the movie's $2.8 million budget. When adjusted for inflation, it would be roughly $1.5 million in 2020.

Sadly the scene is now lost, and the only footage that remains is an amateur recording of it being filmed.

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.