In the past decade or so, the most expensive movie budgets have ballooned to unbelievable levels. It’s not uncommon to see a movie eclipse a $200 million these days, which is something that was almost unheard of just a few short years ago. These big budgets show studios betting big on franchise movies that they know are guaranteed to make a lot of money at the box office. However, some movies with gigantic budgets turn out to be gigantic flops.
Different sources will offer different figures for a movie’s budget, so it can sometimes be hard to ascertain exactly how much a certain movie costs. Trade insiders can make educated guesses, but tax breaks, accounting tricks and conflicting stories mean that most movie budgets aren’t exact. However, the biggest budgets attract the most attention, so people can be fairly confident when they are analyzing the most expensive movie ever. Some studios gamble big and lose, but most movies with budgets exceeding $200 million or $300 million become huge hits.
The figures in this article come fromthe-numbers.com.Other sources may give different budget estimates.
25 Biggest Box Office Bombs Of All Time
From Pixar flops to Western catastrophes to CGI messes and franchises that never took off, these are the 20 biggest box office failures of all time.
The MCU has been consistently making some of the most expensive movies in the world for years, but it has such an immense global fan base that these big budgets are completely justified. Despite their big price tags, Marvel movies can usually be relied on to turn a healthy profit, butThe Marvelsis a rare exception to this rule, andit only made $199.7 million. There have been plenty of theories aboutwhyThe Marvelssuffered at the box office, ranging from the SAG-AFTRA strikes hampering the promotion to the lack of A-list superheroes on show.
Like the MCU, theStar Warsfranchise also splashes the cash, knowing that it will usually see a healthy return on investment. MostStar Warsmovies perform well at the box office, andThe Rise of Skywalkerwas no different, making $1.07 billion at the box office.This huge commercial success is hampered by the mediocre reception thatThe Rise of Skywalkergot from both critics and fans of the franchise. AfterThe Last Jeditook things in a controversial new direction,The Rise of Skywalkerseemed to walk things back without creating any interesting original ideas.
Disney’s first standaloneStar Warsmovie expanded the franchise in new ways, and it was a big success both commercially and critically.Its $1.05 billion box office returnsand its 84% Rotten Tomatoes score illustrate its appeal. Almost a decade later, it’s still arguably the bestStar Warsmovie of the Disney era.Rogue Onefollows a group of rebels, all of whom are characters never seen before on the big screen, as they try to infiltrate an Imperial base to extract the schematics for the Death Star. This fun heist story leads directly intoA New Hope, and it also patches one of the franchise’s biggest plot holes in the process.
TheMission: Impossiblefranchise has gotten better and better over the years. Tom Cruise has delivered more daring stunts, the action scenes have gotten more creative, and the stakes have been consistently raised. This culminated in the franchise’s most expensive movie,Dead Reckoning Part One.The$566 million box office grosswould be a soaring success for most movies, but it was a slight disappointment forMission: Impossible.Part of its weak performance can be attributed to the fact that it went up against bothBarbieandOppenheimerat the summer box office.Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoningwill likely have a similar budget, or an even bigger one.
DC movies rarely have budgets as big as the MCU, soJustice Leagueis a rare exception. However,Justice League’s $665.9 million box office grossshows that DC still can’t compete with the MCU in terms of profit. Although the movie offered a chance to see the DC’s biggest heroes teaming up, it was hampered by negative reviews, and a 39% Rotten Tomatoes score may have turned potential audiences away. The calls soon began for the release of the so-called “Snyder Cut,” an extended version ofJustice Leaguewhich was released in 2021 to a more positive response.
Avengers: Infinity Warwas famously labeled as the most ambitious crossover event in the history of cinema. The MCU’s most prestigious team of superheroes were joined by dozens of other popular characters, including the Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man and Black Panther. Marvel went all in onInfinity War, andthis gamble paid off to the tune of $2.05 billion. This makes it one of thehighest-grossing movies of all time, and it also received positive reviews from critics.Infinity Waris everything a big-budget blockbuster should be. It provides crowdpleasing entertainment and eye-popping spectacle.
9Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End (2007)
$300 Million
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s Endis something of an outlier among the most expensive movies ever made, because it’s the only movie near the top which was made before 2010. It set a new record for the biggest budget of all time by a considerable margin, butAt World’s Endmade $961 million at the box office, showing that Disney were wise to back it. After two movies in the franchise which were just as popular,At World’s Endwas always expected to do well. It’s mediocre critical reception continued the franchise’s downward trajectory, but this had little impact on how audiences responded to it.
Solo: A Star Wars Storywas famously hit by troubles behind the scenes, with Ron Howard replacing Phil Lord and Christopher Miller as director midway through production.Soloalso struggled at the box office, making just $393 million, which represents a damaging loss when taking the marketing and distribution costs into account. It’s Disney’s lowest-grossingStar Warsmovie by some distance, and it forced the studio to reassess thefuture of theStar Warsfranchise. Several projects were either shelved or turned into TV shows for Disney+. The franchise is currently gearing up to return to theaters once more.
TheFast and Furiousfranchise has been consistently turning massive profits for decades, and the budgets have been steadily increasing as a result.Fast Xcame with the franchise’s biggest budget yet, but its$714.5 million box office returnwas something of a disappointment. For comparison, the franchise’s last movie before the pandemic,The Fate of the Furious,made over $1.2 billion on a much smaller budget. WithFast and Furious 11coming in 2025, the budget will probably be similar to that ofFast X,with plenty of big-name actors and explosive stunts to pay for.
The secondAvengersmovie had a much bigger budget than the first, although it made slightly less money at the box office.Age of Ultronmade a healthy $1.4 billion, proving that 2012’sThe Avengerswas no fluke.Age of Ultronalso took a slight step down with critics, although its 76% Rotten Tomatoes score is nothing to be ashamed of. Much worse movies have made more money at the box office, so it wouldn’t be entirely wise to attribute the dip in profit to the dip in quality. However,Age of Ultrondoes stand out as a relatively low point in theAvengersfranchise.
