There’s a lot that goes into making a movie — costume design, set building, special effects, and so much more. And for that reason, it’s no wonder movies can cost a pretty penny, especially when it comes to a specific genre: the musical movie. Musicals are all about the theatrics and, of course, their biggest driving factor is the music and choreography. Though, things are slightly changed a bit when a musical transitions from the stage to the big screen. The creation of movie musicals sometimes comes with new challenges — deciding what camera angles to use, recreating or reworking classic costumes, hiring new actors, and what scenes should be adapted for the big screen.
Despite its differences from a stage production, movie musicals can still be a treat for viewers, even making them more accessible; although the cost of making one can get pretty expensive, and even more so if it is animated.
12 Les Misérables (2012) - $61 Million
Les Misérables has gone through a lot of adaptations over the years since its creation in 1862 by French novelist Victor Hugo. The 2012 version of Les Misérables has over time gained a reputation as one of the most well-produced movie musical adaptations, with many citing the visually stunning performances as the main reason for loving the film. Akin to a stage production, all the singing in the film happened live on set — differentiating it from other film musicals which usually have vocals sung separately and lip-synced afterward.
The cast also featured many stars who either happened to appear or go on to appear in movie musicals such as The Greatest Showman’s Hugh Jackson, Mamma Mia’s Amanda Seyfried, and Sweeney Todd’s Helena Bonham Carter. The film won three Oscars, with Anne Hathaway’s performance as Fantine earning the award for Best Supporting Actress.
11 Annie (2014) - $65 Million
Spawning many movie adaptations from the 1977 Broadway musical and 1924 comic strip Little Orphan Annie, director Will Gluck’s Annie took place in modern New York City with some changes. Annie, played by Beasts of the Southern Wild actress Quvenzhané Wallis, is a foster child, not an orphan, technology is a lot more used in the plot being that the movie is set in 2014, and Daddy Stacks is known as Will Stacks, a tech billionaire played by Jamie Foxx.
Many of the musical numbers also came from the Broadway prediction. However, in a 2014 press release, it was revealed that soundtrack executive producer Greg Kurtisn collaborated with Sia to create new arrangements for some of the familiar Broadway songs. Despite the film having a $65 budget, it only earned $136.9 million worldwide according to IGN, and received many negative reviews.
10 Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again (2018) - $75 Million
Mamma Mia tells the story of a bride named Sophia, who invites three men who previously fell in love with her mother, Donna, with the hopes that one of them is her father so he can walk her down the aisle. Unlike other musical films on this list, Mamma Mia was a jukebox musical, using all of its songs from the 1970s pop group ABBA. The 2008 film had a budget of $52 million and had a total gross earning of around $6 million at the box office.
When the movie’s sequel, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, revisits the characters five years after the wedding, the film had an even bigger budget and earnings. The $75 million produced sequel made a total of around $4 million at the box office, according to The Things. Interestingly enough, despite Meryl Steep appearing in the film as Donna for around five minutes, it is claimed by Metro UK that the actress was paid $3 million.
9 Hairspray (2007) - $75 Million
Based on the 1988 comedy film and 2002 Broadway musical of the same name, Adam Shankman’s Hairspray re-introduced the story of the aspiring performer Tracy Turnblad, a plus-sized teenager who dreams of landing a role dancing on the Corny Collins Show. Being that the movie musical is set in the ‘60s in Virginia, much of the set design and costuming along with the style of music matches the time period. The film also starred many well-recognized actors such as Queen Latifah, and former teen-stars Zac Efron and Amanda Bynes.
Actor John Travolta, most well-known for his performances in Grease and Saturday Night Fever, also played in Hairspray as Tracy’s mother Edna Turnblad. According to The Richest, the $14 million from the $75 million movie budget came from paying Travolta for his performance.
8 The Greatest Showman (2017) - $84 Million
Director Michael Gracey’s The Greatest Showman was in the works for nine years, before releasing in 2017 and introducing audiences to the fictionalized story of the showman and creator of Barnum & Bailey Circus P.T. Barnum in all its musical and glittery glory. While many know of Barnum’s problematic past, fans of the musical film have praised the film for its exceptional period-piece costuming, well-performed choreography, and catchy upbeat musical numbers like the popular Golden Globe award-winning song “This Is Me.” Funny enough, the costuming came from Feld Entertainment, who are now the owners of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey — something that probably played a factor in the high budget.
7 West Side Story (2021) - $100 Million
Hailed as one of the most well-known Broadway musicals, West Side Story tells a Romeo and Juliet-inspired story about the love between Tony and Maria who come from two different rival gangs — the Sharks and the Jets. The 1957 musical has been adapted for the screen before. In 1961, directors Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins took a crack at putting West Side Story on the big screen which resulted in the film becoming the highest-grossing film of that time as well as earning 12 Oscar nominations.
With Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, however, the film had a bigger budget of $100 million as opposed to the $6 million the 1961 musical film. The higher budget of the musical film shines through with its updated set design and lavish performances which contained new choreography coming from Justin Peck. Due to COVID, the musical film flopped at the box office, only making back $10.6 million; however, the film did earn a plethora of raving reviews, was nominated for seven Oscars, and earned an Oscar win for Ariana DeBose as Best Supporting Actress.
6 Cats (2019) - $100 Million
When Cats came out in 2019, it was pretty much universally disliked by both audiences and critics. According to Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 19% Tomatometer score and an audience score of 53%. Much of the dislike comes movie’s designs of the anthropomorphic cats, which, unlike the 1981 stage musical designs that managed to craft humanoid cat designs in a fun and creative way, the 2019 movie adaption leaned way too heavily on making cat designs realistic on a human body using CGI — resulting in an uncanny valley-like look. Around the film’s trailer releases, there were rumors of Cats costing $3 million; however Forbes debunked such a claim.
5 Frozen (2013) - $150 Million
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When Frozen came out in the fall of 2013, it was a massive hit. According to CBS News, it managed to gross over $1 billion at the box office just four months after its release. The film not only had a phenomenal soundtrack but catchy and memorable songs such as the well-known Oscar-winning song “Let It Go” performed by Wicked Broadway star Idina Menzel. Along with the star-filled cast, it can be assumed that the animation of the snow and ice, which played part in the film’s performances, also contributed to the movie musical’s production cost.
4 Frozen 2 (2019) - $150 Million
Following Frozen’s success, the sequel Frozen II came out with much fanfare. Even though the budget was the same as the first movie, the sequel earnings were quite different. In fact, Frozen 2 grossed $1.325 billion in total at the box office putting it as the highest grossing animated film of all time and one of the highest-earning animated musical movies on this list.
3 Tangled (2010) - $260 Million
Not only is Tangled one of Disney’s most expensive movies ever made, but it's one the most expensive animated films ever. The film was in production for six years, and at one point wasn’t going to be more of a comedy in a similar vein to Shrek according to Yardbarker. A lot of the cost came from animating Princess Rapunzel’s 70 feet of hair, a process that while time-consuming, resulted in creating new technology to animate hair for future Disney movies according to an Insider video.
2 The Lion King (2019) - $260 Million
Director Jon Favreau’s The Lion King was a divisive movie for many. Some hardcore Disney fans were not happy about the classic film being remade while others welcomed it with open arms, arguing that it helped introduce the movie to a new generation. Regardless of where one might stand with the creation of the remake, it is undeniable that it was quite expensive.
What made the 2019 version of The Lion King, different and more costly than its 2D animated predecessor, was the photorealism of the lions due to CGI and using references from real lions in the wild. The film also had a cast full of popular stars including singers Beyoncé and Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino — which is quite fitting for a movie musical.
The remake also included music from the Broadway production of The Lion King and presented new original songs to audiences like “Spirit” and “Never Too Late”. Music from the original movie was also revamped within the 2019 remake such as “Hakuna Matata” which gave new lines to Timon and Pumbaa.
1 Beauty and the Beast (2017) - $255 Million
Disney’s live-action remake of the classic animated movie, Beauty and the Beast cost around $255 million to make. Though, if you add on the cost of marketing, the film in total rounds up to around $300 million according to Vanity Fair. Given that the movie involved CGI and motion capture to pull off the magical performances in Beauty and the Beast as well as a performance from Emma Watson as Bella (who had an upfront fee of $3 million), it makes sense why it’s the most expensive movie musicals out there and one of Disney’s most expensive movies produced.