In 1963, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton starred in the movie Cleopatra, which was supposed to have a production budget of $2 million. Over the course of production, the $2 million budget ballooned to $7 million with some coaxing from an over-ambitious producer and then an eventual $31 million as the movie suffered setback after setback, with examples including but not limited to a serious illness, an incomplete script, and not one but two changes of actors.
In the end, Cleopatra managed to become the single highest-grossing film of 1963 by bringing in $26 million, which fell short of the $44 million in both production and marketing costs. As a result, 20th Century Fox gained the rather dubious honor of having made the one movie to become the highest-grossing film of the year and still sustain a loss, which was made all the worse by the fact that it came within a hair’s breadth of bankruptcy.
These numbers speak volumes about the extent of the changes experienced by the entertainment industries since that time. First and foremost, it is important to note that Cleopatra’s total revenues of $57.7 million come out to about $446.74 million in 2016 dollars, while its total costs of $44 million come out to about $340.67 million in 2016 dollars.
While these figures are still high compared to those of its modern counterparts, they are part of the curve rather than exceptional outliers, as shown by the fact that The Avengers cost $220 million to make $1.52 billion, Avengers: Age of Ultron cost $330.6 million to make $1.405 billion, and Avatar cost $237 million to make $3.02 billion.
There are a number of reasons that movies have become so expensive to make. For example, TV shows are becoming more and more competitive, meaning that movies have become reliant on bigger and bigger spectacles in order to bring consumers who have a host of other entertainment options available to them. Furthermore, movies are being made using more and more advanced techniques and technologies, so much so that some movies such as Avatar and Rapunzel had to have examples purpose-made for them.
Finally, Hollywood studios have made a conscious choice to pursue blockbusters by making fewer but more expensive movies, thus resulting in higher and higher movie production costs in order to keep up with their competitors. With that said, while movie production costs have seen a sustained rise in recent times, it remains to be seen whether a movie will ever have a production budget of $1 billion or not. However, this is a topic that has received a fair amount of interest in recent times because of the rumors surrounding Avengers: Infinity War, which suggests that it could come closer to that point than ever before.
The Recent Rumors of a $1 Billion Production Budget
Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1 and Avengers: Infinity War – Part 2 are the follow-ups to The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron, which are scheduled for release in 2018. Like their name suggests, they will be making use of plot elements that have been brought up in previous entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, meaning that in a real sense, they are meant to be a sort of climax that the series of movies have been building towards. As a result, it is no wonder that a lot of people are prepared to believe that the two movies will have a combined production budget of $1 billion.
Granted, it helps that the rumor is not as unbelievable as it sounds. After all, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been successful beyond even the most optimistic of speculation, meaning that if there is a movie that could be worth such a huge investment in its success, there are few choices that can match Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1 and Avengers: Infinity War – Part 2 in their credibility.
However, what is interesting is that the rumors claim that while much of the budget will be going towards the special effects as well as the cutting-edge techniques and technologies that will be seeing use in the production process, much of the budget will also be going towards its cast members. To be exact, the rumors claim that Robert Downey Jr. will be claiming the lion’s share of the portion of the production budget set aside for cast members, though this would be no more than the continuation of an existing trend if true.
Will There Ever Be a Movie with a $1 Billion Production Budget?
Regardless, even assuming that Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1 and Avengers: Infinity War – Part 2 will indeed have a combined production budget of $1 billion like the rumors claim, that is still falling far short of the $1 billion point for a single movie. While it is tempting to assume that the current trend will continue until a movie sometime in the unknowable future manages to reach that point, there are also reasons to believe that it will not.
For example, betting so much on single movies is not the best of business decisions. After all, modern movies are just as capable of experiencing failure at the box office as their predecessors, as shown by what happened to the John Carter movie. As a result, while Hollywood studios are feeling the need to concentrate their resources into a small number of movies in order to remain competitive, they are also aware of the need to remain properly diversified.
Should there come a time when a studio bets big on a particular movie and ends up running into serious financial trouble when it fails, chances are good that the other studios will draw back to an extent, thus resulting in smaller budgets but also less risk.
With that said, the future is next-to-impossible to predict with certainty. For all we know, it is possible that movie production budgets will reach $1 billion at some point in the future, not so much because studios are putting in more and more money but because constant inflation will raise those numbers regardless of their choices. Ultimately, this is something that will happen when it happens, meaning that while it is interesting to speculate about, it is still too soon to speculate seriously about.
References:
- http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2015/10/12/why-cant-avengers-infinity-war-cost-1-billion/
- http://www.forbes.com/sites/maddieberg/2016/04/27/the-most-expensive-movies-ever-made/
- http://screenrant.com/most-expensive-movies-ever-made/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopatra_(1963_film)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Avengers_(2012_film)
- http://www.digitaltrends.com/movies/why-hollywood-movies-are-more-expensive-to-make-than-ever/
