Money and cultureProduction cost (estimate)
Most expensive film ever made
$549,000,000
- Record holder
- Jurassic World Dominion
The most expensive film is hard to establish because studios rarely publish their real costs; Jurassic World Dominion holds the official record with a net budget of $549 million.
How the record evolved
The last record set in each decade, up to the current record (highlighted).
| Year | Record | Holder |
|---|---|---|
| current | $549,000,000 | Jurassic World Dominion |
| $536,000,000 | Star Wars: The Force Awakens | |
| $300,000,000 | Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End | |
| $200,000,000 | Titanic | |
| $58,166,000 | Who Framed Roger Rabbit | |
| $55,000,000 | Superman | |
| $31,115,000 | Cleopatra | |
| $15,175,000 | Ben-Hur | |
| $6,375,000 | Forever Amber | |
| $3,967,000 | Ben-Hur |
Put them in order
Sort these records from the oldest to the most recent.
- $31,115,000Cleopatra
- $3,967,000Ben-Hur
- $549,000,000Jurassic World Dominion
- $200,000,000Titanic
What to remember
Because of the secretive nature of Hollywood accounting, nobody can say for sure which film cost the most. Officially, the top spot goes to Jurassic World Dominion, released in 2022, with a net budget of $549,000,000. The back-to-back production of Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame cost over $1 billion, but that covers two films.
Directed by Colin Trevorrow, who co-wrote the screenplay with Emily Carmichael, the film is the third in the Jurassic World series and the sixth in the Jurassic Park franchise. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard return alongside Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Sam Neill, and the shoot took place in 2020 in Canada, England and Malta.
The record's history reaches back to the silent era. In 1925, Ben-Hur cost $3,967,000, a record that lasted well into the sound era; another Ben-Hur also held the record in 1959. Television pushed costs up in the 1950s and early 1960s, and Cleopatra in 1963 did not recoup its budget on first release. Titanic reached $200,000,000 in 1997 and Star Wars: The Force Awakens $536,000,000 in 2015. From the first Ben-Hur to the 2022 film, the ratio is 138.39.
Related records
Sources and licences
- Value, holder and date: Wikipedia article “List of most expensive films” (revision used 1379761780). Data from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Photo: Ajznponar, Photo licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons).
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