The Most Expensive Movies Ever Made And Why 

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Simon when are you going to whistle, ive been waiting years

Robert Downey Jr got paid a ton but he also forced them to pay the other actors more too. Several times he refused to do anything unless they gave the others more

Where are all the old movies from the golden age like Cleopatra? Those were ridiculous in adjusted dollars! Without adjustment for inflation, modern everything is more expensive. 'The most expensive X ever!' well, that's always now if you don't adjust for inflation. Kind of pointless list.

1. Disney 2. Disney / Marvel 3. Disney / Marvel 4. Disney 5. WB / DC Interesting.

I wonder how costly the future biopic "Fact Boi: The Simon Whistler Story" will be

You should do this adjusted for inflation

Adjusted for inflation, Kevin Costner's Waterworld would've cost $309 million today - I was expecting to see it here tbh. Maybe you could do "most expensive box office bombs"?

Simon calling me out for using the internet is going to be my new ringtone.

Can you do a video on how much directors get paid?

Avatar 1 was around $425 million not including marketing. Also, one of the Russo's said that both of their Avengers cost $500 million apiece. Pirates 2 and 3 were shot together on $500 million. And lastly, Spiderman 3 was the first Hollywood film to break the $300 million budget barrier before remarketing.

Big shocker. A bunch of movies with no heart, created just to line pockets. Even the fact that there isn't 1 movie I enjoyed on the list, isn't surprising...

Sideproject: Victoria's West Gate Bridge. Longest bridge in the southern hemisphere. Construction accident killed 35 people. And how a simple car accident on it can cause all of Melbourne's Freeways to come to a standstill.

No Titanic? Seriously? I'd be willing to bet it's still the most expensive ever made, adjusted for inflation. Either that or Cleopatra.

Yeah, you definitely should do this again, but adjusted for inflation.

I genuinely thought avatar was going to be on this list

At the time, Quantum of Solace was one of the most expensive films made that year, at $200-$230 million. Some rumours even say it touched $250 million. It's the shortest Bond film ever made, at 106 minutes long and doesn't look or feel like a $200 million film.

Do one for biggest bombs next... Big budget movies that didn't make their money back

Most expensive movies huh? Avatar 2 says “hold my beer”

Please note: SPECIAL Effect are those done practically on set, eg. Rain, Wind, Explosions, etc. VISUAL Effects are done after, and these days are mostly made in a computer.

Let's talk about a ghastly hidden cost of "Pirates Of The Caribbean", the total obliteration of any chance of seeing a sequel to "Master And Commander". "MAC" made a very good return for its makers, but as is explained in this video, "POTC" ran off with a positive truckload of loot. I have it on the authority of one of the "MAC" creative team that, having put unprecedented effort into making an historically faithful recreation of life and war at sea, everyone involved was so disgusted at being financially clobbered by a movie based on a theme park ride that they vowed never to make a sequel. And that, as I said above, is a ghastly hidden cost.

Fun fact. Officially, none of these movie are in profit yet. The power of creative accounting.

Aww you forgot 2009 Avatar! That thing was astronomically expensive! An grossed well over $2 billion beating titanic! It had also been in development since the early. 90s! Course then technology was lackluster

And how many of these has Simon seen?

Simon says "Suns in four" and they lose that same night. The Simon Curse 😂

Would've been interesting to see how this compares to old movies inflated for inflation

Have you done a video about the least expensive movies that were hits?

The 1951 Thing From Another World was made for $100k. Disney spends that much on buttons for some of its movies.

I am surprised Star Wars Episode 9 didn't make this list. It is rumored they spent a lot more than $300,000,000 on it (allegedly).

1:15 - Chapter 1 - Pirates of the caribbean , on stranger tides 3:05 - Chapter 2 - Avengers , endgame 4:30 - Mid roll ads 6:30 - Chapter 3 - Avengers, infinity wars 8:25 - Chapter 4 - Pirates of the caribbean , at the world's end 9:30 - Chapter 5 - Justice league

Something else these movies have in common: Overblown, overhyped, overpriced and overrated.

Smashed the like button not because I found this video very interesting but because I like Simon and his content.

Kevin Smith's first movie "clerks" cost them $6000... and its better than all of them... you don't need a massive budget to make a highly entertaining film...

That’s odd; one would think converting a movie to full 3-D post-production would be more costly and difficult

Suggestion: How are those A list celebrity paychecks spent? For example, how much of that 75 million actually ends up in Robert Downey Jr.'s piggy bank? 💰💰💰💰💰💰🐖

Next side project should be SIMON GLORIOUS BEARD.

Pirates of the Caribbean would have been a "Half a billion profit" not "half a million" @2:50

On geographical will you please do a video on centralia Pennsylvania… on biographics a video on the hatfields and McCoy’s

I'm kind of surprised you didn't include The General, considered Buster Keaton's masterpiece The General was at the time one of the most Expensive films of the Silent Era this was in large part to the films climax in which they dropped a real steam locomotive off of a burning trestle bridge which had started a forest fire and required the Oregon National Guard to come in to help put it out(they were subsequently also recruited as extras for the films big battle scene that followed the locomotive crashing into the river).

Who knew prancing about infront of cameras in spandex could be so expensive... :P

What did I buy this month? Beard Blaze. No regrets.

The funny part is that Justice League was actually more expensive than that. There was another phase to that movie's... interesting birth, that you don't mention here. The initial pitch made in around 2014 was that Justice League was supposed to have two parts, and Snyder got to work on that, but the disappointing box office results and critical paddling session that their predecessor Batman V Superman got, lead to Warner Bros. getting cold feet and pulling the plug on the two movies concept. But Snyder had already done a lot of work on those, most of which had to be scrapped to mush them together into one movie. Plus, you didn't mention another 100-150 million for worldwide marketing, leading to JL having to reach 750 million before it could break even.

Interesting. The 1936 MGM release “San Francisco” was the most expensive movie of its time, mostly from its stunning depiction of the 1906 earthquake.

I thought Avatar woulda been on this list.

As a huge Suns fan I feel so honored you referenced “Suns in 4” 🧡💜🧡💜

Simons beard has become so great it's like a black hole stealing the light from his beautiful face

Hii Simon! Great upload!!

I was an idiot. Snyder's Justice League. At 3 hours 12 minutes I snapped to my senses with a WTF gobsmack to my left ear. I'm still traumatized and suffering from PBSD (post boredom somnolence disorder). 🖖🐢👣

No Waterworld, Titanic, or Cleopatra?! Wtf

Hollywood bookkeeping, now there is a magical thing. They could make a 10 minute movie on the sex life of a golfball

What! Wheres Avatar???

I made up my own cocktail. I call it a Cap'n Jack. Since I quit drinking almost two and a half years ago I guess I'm willing to share the recipe: One part Captain Morgan Silver Rum to two parts really good root beer and the juice of half a lime. On ice of course. Tastes like punch, try it you'll like it!

From what I know, Avatar is the most expensive film ever made at $425 million. You can't go by what the studios tell you. I think Disney shuffles costs around on paper to make a certain financial quarter seem more profitable than they really were for shareholders. Also, studios may inflate budget numbers on paper to avoid shelling out profit sharing with high profile cast, directors and producers.

3:14 Funnily enough, I barely saw any advertising for the movie. It was 2021 before I heard anything about Avengers: Endgame.

I am disappointed that Black Widow wasn't mentioned as a bonus. Its budget is listed as 200 million USD+ and there's no way that Disney/Marvel didn't shell out serious dough for its _2_ marketing campaigns. $400 million won't even be enough for it to break even. I think it'll actually need $500 million just to break even.

your advert felt like a personal attack LMAO

Cinema 🎥 is Dead , apart from a James Cameron movie now and then . Even Speilberg has signed a Netflix deal . Cinema's have to become real in Ticket Prices.

I have only seem the first Pirates movie, having no idea there were four films.

Just an FYI, none of these films would have made as big a profit as it looks. The Marketing budget for most of these will often times match the budget the film had or more. So they don't make nearly as much profit as you think. Stranger tides for instance probs made 150-250m instead of half a million.

Never seen a Pirates of the Caribbean movie, nor want to, and I must be one of the few who didn't even notice this last instalment.

Wassup ma sideproject homies 😁

This is literally the first i heard of a 4th pirates of the Caribbean

And there's Avatar for 246M USD which in todays money is 308,6M USD ;)

How about a little more nuanced approach. Since salaries are a planned budget item, how about films that just ran away with their costs. Apocalypse Now for instance.

everybody keeps forgetting the fees and the cut the cinemas get from the gross. And that varies from country to country from 40-50%.

In this episode: everything Disney owns is expensive and awesome. Except for Justice League, because everyone is tired of Warner Bros trotting out a new Batman every three years.

Lol Gone With The Wind cost 3.85 mil at the time or around 100 mil today. Made 3.78 billion in today's money. Still makes coin. Lol.

Star Wars Episode 9 is rumoured to have cost $600m due to all the reshoots and general shitshow that was the production.

a video on most expensive movies each year. a movie costing what looks like very litter today but made in the 1940's

Every now and then you reference a life outside of your work, but I am beginning to suspect that is a cover to hide the fact that you sleep on an old leather couch in the back and survive on stale coffee that would choke a Chicago cop.

Light a colored candles and the moths will come. I'm a butterfly...

TFW you’ve never heard of over half these movies

Good video 👍

A video about the most expensive or intricate props or sets built would be cool. This video was kind of boring IMO, could have saved a lot of time and just said the Avengers franchise and the POTC franchises are the most expensive lol

Does youtube let you monetize a video if half the run time is taken up by a baked in ad?

Pirates: Out of 1 Billion gross they only made 1/2 a million in profit? Pitiful return on the investment. 2:49

On a year this list will probably also includr the 500 Avatar sequels, take out the Justice League one and make a list of only three Disney Franchises. (I know Avatar is Fox, but the sequels are now being paid and Produced by Disney).

Lil different but I enjoyed it as always 💯

I’m so confused lol. Not seen any of them photoshop parties

Was Paul Rudd in Infinity War? I thought he was doing Quantum stuff in Ant Man & the Wasp

Thinking about that woman, that woke up billions in debt after one night out...

400000$ costs per day isn’t that bad… it’s what a stopped production line in a small company can cost per day. At least that’s what it costs at the company I’m working for… I don’t want to know what it costs bigger companies to shut down a production line for a day or more….

Suns in 4, Simon, you're Fact-Boi is showing

We need a video on "Americas Largest Home"

Without watching yet I know Waterworld is going to make an appearance

CGI now a days is good enough to pass fake people off as real, so why are actors still paid $50M? Especially in movies that have a shit ton of CGI already anyway. It's not a stage play on Broadway, so just completely make up actors that don't exist in real life, far cheaper. With a good story line and decent acting (even when it's done with computers and motion capture of generic athletes and green sceens) I couldn't care less about the name of the actor or if they are even real or not.

what about Kevin Costners movie about being in the sea?

2:51 "half a million in profit" did you mean to say half a billion?

Anybody in the know, just knows that the real costs for movie making (besides actor costs), are massively exaggerated, like 'distribution and marketing' at 100's of millions?? ... just no. Movie companies actually own the plethora of small companies that are used to make, produce and market movies, from the camera rental companies to wardrobe companies, marketing poster company ... the list is endless. These small companies bill the larger company for the actual cost, but they expound the amount 10x's to 100x's to 1000x's of times. Why? Tax write offs. Movie companies dont pay taxes, havn't for a lot of decades. The amounts 'stuff' costs is boosted massively to ensure they actually make money back on taxes. Whatever you hear movies cost, its fairly safe to multiply that by 1% ... and thats probably the real cost. Regarding expensive actors, they are in on it as well ... but these are the top end actors, not the average character actor shmoe who earn an income. The prized top dollar actors though; its not the 'actor' person who makes that amount, the actors 'company' bills that much, and also have a laundry list of deductions, so they dont pay a lot of personal tax either. The movie business is a scam, never believe the amounts, the govt knows and dont care. Think of that when you fill out your income tax form.

No Waterworld on the list?

where is Lord of the Rings?

Had one of those months last month , then I remembered: I started playing raid shadow legends

No Water World or is that too long ago? Maybe it cost more than it took in so was deleted from the internet records😊

Do a video on the Atari 2600

I don't care how famous an actor is, there is no good reason they need to be payed $50+ million for a single film.

wonder how many of them did Simon actualy watch :D

And "Waterworld"?

Can you do old movies?

What does Simon watch? He's never seen Star Wars, MCU movies or the Pirate movies. He a musical or anime guy?

They have to get paid that much in order to purchase that expensive adrenachrome 🤷‍♂️