10 Movies With INSANE Budgets (That Didn't Pay Off)
9. How Do You Know
How Do You Know was a 2010 romantic comedy film that was written, produced, and directed by James L. Brooks, who is probably best known for his longtime work on The Simpsons. While Brooks has had a hand in some of film history's greatest television series and movies, How Do You Know cannot claim such a distinction.
The movie was a romantic comedy-drama, which should have had a modest budget, but for some reason, it ended up costing a whopping $120 million to produce! The main reason the movie ended up costing so much wasn't due to an inflated effects budget, but rather, it was the massive salary demands of the people involved.
When the filming came to a close, Brooks took home $10 million, Reese Witherspoon earned $15 million, Jack Nicholson received $12 million, Owen Wilson was paid $10 million, and Paul Rudd was cut a check for $3 million. That's a salary payment of $50 million dollars in total.
The original budget was twice that amount anyway, but thanks to having to reshoot the beginning and end of the film, the budget shot up another $20 million.
Overall, the movie only managed to earn $48.7 million at the worldwide box office. The critics panned it, and it is rated at 32% on Rotten Tomatoes where most of the feedback indicates the whole project was little more than a misfire in the genre.