20 Most Expensive Films Ever Made

Throwing money at any film is never a sure-fire way to guarantee financial return or critical acclaim: after all, Nic Cage commands some pretty hefty wages and he's got about a 10% hit rate at this stage of his career. And the number of films that waste tens of millions of dollars and fail embarrassingly to even get a cinematic release is further testament. Sometimes the gamble pays off: blockbusters that invest their hefty budgets in ground-breaking visuals can launch entire franchises and universes (in the case of comic book movies in particular), and sometimes the best actors genuinely do earn their paychecks. Clearly, as long as audiences are willing to offset mega budgets by buying tickets and building hype for sequels, the top prices on blockbusters will continue to rise until someone breaks the billion pound barrier. Which is presumably the film that will kill that particular studio. Looking at the trends in the past ten years or so, it's possible that might happen sooner than anyone could have imagined at the birth of the medium. When you look at the most expensive films so far, one thing is abundantly clear: the Walt Disney company have a lot of money they'll willingly invest in films that really, really don't deserve it. Sometimes without ever thinking to actually market them...

Rating: $425,000,000

Worldwide Box Office: $2,783,918,982

Was It Worth It: Had it cost a billion it would have been worth it thanks to that return. And while it's a little concerning to wonder about the future of the franchise with two entirely unnecessary sequels incoming, the original remains an incredible feat.

Not bad for a Fern Gully rip-off.