Movies are expensive to make and some cost more than others.
However, the cost of the movie doesn’t always translate into success.
Here are the 14 Most Expensive Movies of All Time Adjusted for Inflation According to Wiki.
[Photo Credit: Kyle Nishioka from Kaneohe, USA, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons]
1. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)
Budget (Adjusted for Inflation): $456 million
The most expensive movie of all time won 3 awards from 31 nominations.
It starred Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Ian McShane, and Geoffrey Rush, among others.
One of those others is famous rocker and member of Aerosmith Keith Richards.
The movie intended to set out as a low-budget return of the series but that did not happen; it quickly got out of hand and landed itself as the most expensive movie of all time.
Star Johnny Depp spent $64,200 of his own money to buy waterproof jackets for five-hundred crew members to keep them dry during filming.
You can watch this on Disney+.
2. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Budget (Adjusted for Inflation): $417 million
The film’s enormous budget could be contributed in part to its all-star cast.
It included the likes of Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, James Spader, Samuel L. Jackson, and Don Cheadle.
Despite the massive budget and all-star cast it remains the lowest grossing of the Avengers movies.
Surprisingly, Full House stars’ Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen have a connection to the film. Their sister Elizabeth Olsen also starred in the movie.
The movie had 8 award wins with 51 nominations.
You can watch this on Disney+.
3. Cleopatra (1963)
Budget (Adjusted for Inflation): $416 million
The oldest movie on the list spent massive money for its time and the classic is an all-time spender.
The movie barely was worth it according to estimates and the legacy of the film is the only thing that saved it.
The amount of money spent meant it took the movie years to earn money and that was only because of a TV deal lending a hand.
Despite the cost overruns the film was critically acclaimed with 4 Oscar wins. It won 6 awards total with 13 nominations.
The stars of it included Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Pamela Brown, and George Cole.
You can see the film now on FUBO.
4. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007)
Budget (Adjusted for Inflation): $392 million
Another Pirates movie makes the list at number 4.
This was supposed to be the conclusion to the series but ultimately more were made, so it couldn’t have been TOO expensive.
It kept the franchise alive and won 2 Oscars. Intotal the film won 23 times with 51 nominations.
This Pirates movie starred Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightly, Geoffrey Rush, Jack Davenport, and Bill Nighy.
Not adjusted for inflation this is the most expensive movie ever made with a budget that hit $300 million.
Interestingly, that cost was more than all three of the Lord of the Rings movies combined.
You can watch this on Disney+.
5. Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Budget (Adjusted for Inflation): $377 million
Endgame beats its predecessor Infinity War by $26 million to take the 5th spot on our list.
Endgame ranks in the top-5 highest grossing movies of all time so they definitely got a return on their investment.
The film starred Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlet Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Paul Rudd, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chadwick Boseman, Brie Larson, Tom Holland, Karen Gillan, Zoe Saldana, Evangeline Lilly, Tessa Thompson, Rene Russo, and Elizabeth Olsen.
The star-studded cast led the film to 1 Oscar nomination, 70 award wins, and 132 nominations.
You can watch this on Disney+.
6. Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Budget (Adjusted for Inflation): $351 million
The predecessor to Endgame, Avengers Infinity War takes the 6th spot behind its younger brother.
Together with Endgame the two movies made close to $5 billion so the investments in the movies were sound.
The cast in this film included Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlet Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chadwick Boseman, Sebastian Stan, Tom Holland, Karen Gillan, Zoe Saldana, Paul Bettany, Anthony Mackie, Isris Alba, Danai Gurira, and Elizabeth Olsen.
The movie was also nominated for an Oscar, won 46 times to go with 79 total nominations.
They did not allow Tom Holland to read the script because his loose lips revealed too many secrets for Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017).
You can watch this on Disney+.
7. Titanic (1997)
Budget (Adjusted for Inflation): $338 million
Titanic was a movie with a titanic budget. It broke records when it was made and is still number 7 on the list.
The movie was definitely worth the price tag having earned just under $3.5 billion.
The movie was based on the true story of the greatest ocean liner to ever sail which met its demise in the northern atlantic when it collided with an iceberg and sank.
The movie did not sink with the critics however, earning 11 Oscars, and 125 wins.
The film starred Leanardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Francis Fisher, Gloria Stuart, Bill Paxton, Bernard Hill, David Warner, and Victor Garber.
Kate WInslet flashed Leonardo DiCaprio when they first met after finding out she would have to be naked in front of him for filming.
You can still watch it on Paramount+ and Prime Video if you need your fix of the classic film.
[Image Credit: I, DavidShankbone, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons]
8. Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Budget (Adjusted for Inflation): $337 million
The third Spider-Man was the priciest of all time in the series and the 8th most expensive against all movies.
The movie wasn’t the most well received but it didn’t do horrible and the franchise continues on.
The movie did win 1 BAFTA awards to go along with 4 overall wins.
Spider-man 3 starred Tobey Maquire, Kirsten Dunst, Topher Grace, Thomas Haden Church, James Franco, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rosemary Harris, J.K. Simmons, James Cromwell, Theresa Russell, Dylan Baker, Bill Nunn, Bruce Campbell, and Elizabeth Banks.
The film was filmed in the city of Chicago but the screams from Kirsten Dunst were recycled from Spider-man and Spider-man 2.
You can only watch this film if you digitally rent it.
9. Justice League (2017)
Budget (Adjusted for Inflation): $332 million
Justice League broke the bank but not the ratings, only bringing in a 6.1 on IMDB.
The real reason for the massive budget is that it was made 3 times. First by Zack Snyder, then by Joss Whedon, and finally again by Zack Snyder. Snyder put the finishing touches on for a cool $70 million.
Sadly, the movie lost money. Even worse, the people who made it had a miserable time doing it, and the people who watched it were disappointed.
Even the hulking Jason Momoa couldn’t save this film.
It did manage to squeak out 2 award wins.
The cast included Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Ray Fisher, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Connie Nielsen, J.K. Simmons, and the disgraced Amber Heard.
The film gained attention again when Amber Heard entered the spotlight in a defamation suit against her former husband Johnny Depp in 2022. The trial captured America’s attention and resulted in an embarrassing loss for Heard and triumphant win for Depp.
The movie was filmed in the Northern Atlantic country of Iceland.
You can see the film for yourself on HBO Max.
10. Tangled (2010)
Budget (Adjusted for Inflation): $323 million
The highest cost animated film enters at number 10 with Disney’s Rapunzel remake.
The film was barely worth the money as it struggled to become profitable. Much of the cost comes from it being stopped and started several times while in development.
In comparison Disney’s Frozen was made for less money and made way more, however, it does sport a 7.7 IMDB rating.
The film starred Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, Donna Murphy, Ron Perlman, M.C. Gainey, Jeffrey Tambor, and Brad Garrett.
Interestingly the filming took place in Norden, Germany.
This was the first Disney “princess” film to earn a PG rating by the MPAA.
You can still watch it on Disney+.
11. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (2009)
Budget (Adjusted for Inflation): $316 million
The Half Blood Prince spent more money, $100 million more, than any other Potter film, and earned no more than any of the others. However, that is still a billion dollars.
Nominated for one Oscar the film did win 9 awards with 39 total nominations.
The cast included, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Michael Gambon, Dave Legeno, and Elarica Johnson.
Rated a 7.6 on IMDB the film was filmed in Bjorli, Norway.
The opening weekend saw the film earn just under 78 million in the US and Canada.
You can still see the film today on HBO Max.
12. John Carter (2012)
Budget (Adjusted for Inflation): $311 million
This film bombed. So much so that Disney claimed a $200 million loss on it.
That makes John Carter one of the worst investments in cinematic history.
Ranked a 6.6 on IMDB the film starred Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Willem DaFoe, Samantha Morton, Thomas Haden Church, Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds, Dominic West, James Purefoy, and Bryan Cranston.
Cranston became famous for his role as Walter White in the cult classic Breaking Bad.
During filming in Utah the crew uncovered a dinosaur skeleton.
Filmed in Moab, Utah it made $30 million in the opening weekend in the US and Canada.
You can watch this movie on Disney+.
13. Waterworld (1995)
Budget (Adjusted for Inflation): $306 million
Waterworld barely made its money back and it took a long time, but critics lauded the attempt to make a high budget sci-fi movie at a time when no one was doing it. Maybe there was a reason.
The film did receive an Oscar nomination but it did not win.
An all-star cast included Kevin Costner, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Dennis Hopper, Tina Majorino, Chaim Jeraffi, and Rick Aviles.
The film focused on a world with melting polar ice caps and was trimmed down from 3 hours to south of 2 hours by Costner and the studio.
Its opening weekend saw a $21 million take.
The film was filmed in Waipi’o Valley, Hawaii.
The movie can still be streamed on Starz.
[Photo Credit: Caroline Bonarde Ucci, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons]
14. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006)
Budget (Adjusted for Inflation): $302 million
Pirates of the Caribbean pepper this list and this is the least expensive.
Captain Jack Sparrow made it worth Disney’s money though as the franchise is among the top grossing of all-time.
The highest-grossing film of the franchise is Dead Man’s Chest which had one of the lower budgets for the franchise.
The film sports a 7.3 rating on IMDB and won an Oscar.
The stars of the movie differ some from the others and include Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightly, Jack Davenport, Bill Nighy, Jonathan Pryce, and Lee Arenberg.
The film was filmed in the beautiful locations of St. Vincent, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Opening weekend in the US and Canada saw a whopping $135.6 million in earnings.
The film made over 1 billion dollars total.
You can still see it on Disney+.