It is astonishing how much money goes into Hollywood franchise movies. Between the actors' multi-million-dollar salaries and the salaries of thousands of crew members to post-production and marketing, the budgets for some films certainly make you realize just how little we, as an audience, are in comparison to the giants of the film industry. It is certainly predictable that big blockbusters are the most expensive movies, but the specific figures of each movie are sure to make you blink twice.

Updated July 28, 2023: This article has been updated with new films and recent box office additions to various entries on the list.

Of course, a movie with a high budget does not necessarily mean that it is certain to make a satisfactory profit in return or, for that matter, be a well-crafted and entertaining story. Disney, for example, invests millions in all of its projects, but that does not stop the major studio from experiencing its box office bombs now and then. With all that in mind, which films truly were the most expensive to produce? The results may surprise you. Without further ado, here is a look at the most expensive movies ever made, unadjusted for inflation.

25 Furious 7 (2015) - $250M

Furious 7 was, until recently, the most expensive film in the Fast & Furious franchise. Following how well the previous two entries had done, Universal Pictures decided to increase the budget for the seventh film to deliver an epic spectacle. Sadly part of the inflated budget also was due to the tragic passing of star Paul Walker in the middle of filming, which forced a break in filming while the filmmakers decided how to proceed. By the time the film came out, it was a massive box office hit and grossed $1.5 billion worldwide and is the highest-grossing film in the franchise.

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24 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) - $250M

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the most expensive film in the Wizarding World franchise. It is unclear why the sixth entry and neither part of the two-part finale carries a higher budget. Released during the height of Potter-mania, the film notable was delayed just three months before its release moving from November 2008 to July 2009. It paid off as Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince grossed $934.5 million at the worldwide box office.

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23 Beauty and the Beast (2017) – $255M

Disney spent $255 million on Beauty and the Beast, a live-action remake of one of the studio's most iconic and beloved films. The move paid off as Beauty and the Beast grossed $174 million in its opening weekend and went on to gross $504 million domestically and $1.2 billion worldwide. This proved to Disney there was a lot of money to be made remaking the Disney Renaissance films.

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22 Spider-Man 3 (2007) – $258M

Sam Raimi’s final Spider-Man movie, Spider-Man 3, sees Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) battle himself after a symbiote turns his suit black and brings out his dark side. At the time of its release, Spider-Man 3 was the most expensive movie ever made, with some believing the budget even went past $300 million -- which Sony denied. The movie drew nearly $900M in box office earnings, and while the effects were praised, the rest of the reviews were more negative, leading to the cancelation of future Maguire Spider-Man movies.

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21 The Lion King (2019) – $260M

Jon Favreau took on the directorial duties for The Lion King remake after helming the reimagining of The Jungle Book. Favreau and his team pushed the envelope of what existing CGI is capable of and creating life-like animals. Some Disney followers were happy, but others were not. Regardless, the extremely expensive end result, which cost $260 million, surpassed Frozen as the highest-grossing animated film of all time.

Remaking one of the most beloved and popular animated films was an investment that paid off. Featuring an all-star cast, including Donald Glover and Beyoncé, with James Earl Jones reprising his iconic Mufasa role, The Lion King was certainly strong enough to greenlight a prequel film. The upcoming film will serve as both a prequel and a sequel, director Barry Jenkins recently revealed.

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20 Tangled (2010) – $260M

The animated movie Tangled retells the story of Rapunzel, a young princess with magical hair who is trapped in a tower, and begins an adventure when she finally escapes the tower. Tangled had been in development for six years at Disney, resulting in a massive budget that is estimated at $260M. This would make it the most expensive animated movie ever made. The movie’s beautiful visuals earned high praise, along with its story and characters, and was a financial success.

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19 Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) – $263M

More than $260 million was used to make Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and yet it did not perform as well as Aquaman or Wonder Woman. The film earned over three times its budget during its theatrical run but suffered a major drop after an incredible opening weekend where it set a record for the biggest opening weekend during the Easter holiday.

Some fans argue the movie lived up to the hype and found joy in seeing the DC trinity (Henry Cavill's Superman, Ben Affleck's Batman, and Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman) united on screen. Others, however, were less enthusiastic about the film and criticized the darker tone and storytelling. Warner Bros. invested a great deal in the movie and practically bet ten years of their future on this movie, one that sadly did not pay off and is about to be reset, meaning that the Snyderverse is over, dead, and gone.

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18 John Carter (2012) – $264M

John Carter is one of the few movies that holds two drastically contrasting titles: it is one of the most expensive movies ever made, but it is also one of the biggest box office bombs (though its lead actor Taylor Kitsch would disagree). The sci-fi epic used a budget of $264 million and only grossed $73 million domestically.

Even with an impressive $284 million worldwide total, when everything was added up, John Carter was a massive bomb for Disney. The only good news was that two months later, The Avengers was released and helped recoup any lost money from John Carter. Disney of course, did not expect this movie to perform so poorly at the box office as they had plans to make a whole John Carter franchise.

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17 Jurassic World Dominion (2022) – $265M

The most recent addition to the Jurassic franchise, Jurassic World Dominion is also boasting an incredibly high budget. Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum's highly anticipated return to the series was a huge moment and something that would only add on to the costs. While the majority of that was spent on bringing dinosaurs to life, filming at the height of COVID-19 cost them millions of extra dollars. The 18-month shoot was the first blockbuster movie to start shooting during the pandemic as they tried to navigate that new world.

Despite the high budget, the film managed to make just over $1 billion. This made it only the third movie to reach that milestone after the pandemic, showing that the franchise is still a hit among audiences despite the harsh critical reception. Bringing in a total net profit of $230 million, the film proved to be a success for Universal. With continued interest shown in the franchise, it's only a matter of time before another movie arrives with potentially an even higher budget.

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16 Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) – $275M

The second live-action Star Wars anthology film, Solo: A Star Wars Story centers on a young Han Solo that is not played by Harrison Ford. Solo is infamously known for its difficult production, with original directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller being removed far from the filmmaking process. Bringing on Ron Howard as a new director and requiring major reshoots of scenes that had already been filmed ballooned the budget for what was intended as a lower-cost Star Wars movie.

The film became the first Star Wars box office bomb, grossing $393.2 million worldwide, which, in comparison, fell drastically short of The Last Jedi's $1.333 billion. Due to the failure of Solo: A Star Wars Story, Lucasfilm pivoted away from anthology films and moved its focus towards series on Disney+. Had Solo not had the additional reshoot cost added on, there is a chance it could have turned a profit.

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15 Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part I – $290M

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1 is the first of three movies released in 2023 that make it onto this list. The seventh entry in the Mission: Impossible franchise came with a massive $290 million budget, partially due to the fact that the film had to shut down for a good part of production due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The film was shot in various countries all over the world and had strict COVID protocols. The budget for the film ballooned, although after the success of Top Gun: Maverick, Paramount Pictures was likely not concerned with betting this much on Tom Cruise as it worked out well the last time. However, the went on to underperform at the box office, making just over $567 million, largely owing to competition from Barbie and Oppenheimer, which were released only one week later. M: I 7's disappointing performance has resulted in what was known as Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part 2 being delayed to 2025, with a change of the film's title expected to happen at some point.

14 Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) – $295M

Another movie that had to film during the pandemic, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness dealt with a lot of challenges. A visual effects heavy movie with different universes, magic, and actors filming scenes separate from each other to stay secretive, the film was always going to cost them a lot. It was originally set to cost the studio around $200 million, but COVID-19 added an extra $95 million on top of that.

The pre-production process was a chaotic one, with it recently being revealed that there were 33 different scripts written for the movie. As the fourth highest-grossing movie of 2022, the film nearly cracked a billion bringing in $955 million and taking home $183 million in profit.

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13 Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) – $295M

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny was marketed as the final entry in the famous franchise, with Lucasfilm and Disney appearing to spare no expense when developing the action-adventure sequel. The movie's budget is reported to have been $295 million, a good portion of which likely went towards the expansive global setting and the advanced de-aging effects of Harrison Ford.

Like Mission: Impossible 7, Dial of Destiny proved to be a box office bomb after it ended its run with just $384 million. The poor performance has been attributed to a mixed critical reception and lack of interest in the franchise. The film reportedly lost Disney $100 million, making it Disney's worst financial failure since the aforementioned John Carter.

12 Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) – $300M

Following the success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the film's sequel was given another massive production and marketing budget. Star Wars: The Last Jedi proved to be the more divisive film, particularly pertaining to the portrayal of Luke Skywalker. The film was a massive hit, grossing $1 billion worldwide, and it was the highest-grossing movie of 2017.

There are Star Wars fans who praise Rian Johnson's ambitious storytelling, and there are also those who continue to disagree with many of his creative decisions. Nonetheless, it is hard to argue that Lucasfilm's investment paid off.

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11 Justice League (2017) – $300M

Similar to Solo, Justice League is a case of a studio spending so much money on a film due to heavy reshoots. Warner Bros. spent $300 million to make the DC team up. Despite a worldwide gross of $657 million, it was considered a box office failure and ended up losing Warner Bros. money. The reshoots were an attempt by the studio to change course after the negative reception of the previous film; Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.

The drastic course-correcting angered many fans, who were aware that Justice League did not represent director Zack Snyder's original vision. This led to years of demand for the fabled "Snyder Cut", which saw a release in 2021 on HBO Max and became a streaming success. One wonders how much money Warner Bros. could have saved had they just stuck with the Justice League version Snyder was making.

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10 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007) – $300M

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End shows the world that investing $300 million into a film can yield great results. The third installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise became the highest-grossing movie of 2007, grossing over $960 million at the worldwide box office. The money is up on the screen with massive practical sets, impressive action sequences, and an all-star cast.

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9 Avengers: Infinity War (2018) – $325M

Now, let's be honest: when has an Avenger movie not lived up to its expectations, particularly when it comes to gross earnings? Using a budget of $325 million paid off, considering how Avengers: Infinity War became the first superhero movie to gross over $2 billion worldwide.

Despite many viewing superhero movies as an overrated genre and believing superhero movie fatigue will soon kick in, the numbers say otherwise. Whether one is a fan of the MCU or not, one cannot deny that Avengers: Infinity War had a significant impact on the history of cinema.

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8 Fast X (2023) – $340M

The latest film in the saga, Fast X, is now one of the most expensive movies ever made, carrying a budget of $340 million. Like both Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1, Fast X's budget went towards global location shooting and massive practical action scenes.

Fast X also had a stacked cast of actors who can command large paydays, including Vin Diesel, John Cena, Jason Mamoa, Jason Statham, Charlize Theron, and Brie Larson. In addition, the movie also hit a speed bump when original director Justin Lin departed the movie shortly after filming began, with Louis Letterier stepping in to replace him. As seen with Solo: A Star Wars Story, bringing in a director while cameras are rolling can be costly. The film struggled at the domestic box office, but performed much better worldwide. However, with the series previously reaching a high of $1.5 billion at the box office, Fast X's $714 million may be a sign that this franchise might be running out of gas.

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7 Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) – $350M

Avatar: The Way of Water is James Cameron’s long-awaited sequel to 2009’s Avatar. Similar to the first movie, this one, which follows the Sully family, also has a massive budget. Avatar: The Way of Water had a reported budget of $350 million, and James Cameron said the movie would need to be the third or fourth highest-grossing movie of all time to be a hit. Cameron hit it right on the bullseye as Avatar: The Way of Water is the third highest-grossing movie of all time with $2.3 billion worldwide.

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6 Avengers: Endgame (2019) – $356M

The anticipation for Avengers: Endgame, the movie that would conclude the Infinity Saga storyline, was enormous. It is only natural that the numbers would prove that. Against a budget of $356 million, the movie grossed $2.798 billion worldwide. Avengers: Endgame grossed $357 million in its opening weekend alone, surpassing its entire production budget by $1 million in just three days.

If you think that Infinity War's achievements are impressive, Endgame surpasses them by becoming the highest-grossing movie of all time from July 2019 until March 2021 when it was dethroned by the rerelease of Avatar. Marvel Studios continues to move full-steam ahead with their MCU projects, but only time will tell if they can execute another cinematic event like Avengers: Endgame or if that would've been the high note the MCU should've ended on.

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