Hollywood big-wigs are never afraid to open their wallets for a movie that they know will make a profit, but sometimes, things just don't go as planned. Click ahead to see the most triumphant, the most tragic, but most importantly, the most expensive movies ever made...
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides ($379 million)
This 2011 hit was the fourth installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean anthology, and the most expensive movie ever made. The price was driven so high because Disney decided to hire multiple studios to shoot the film with both standard 4k and 3D cameras to emulate the CGI of James Cameron’s Avatar. Ten companies in total were hired to capture this film, in addition to that, this movie was in pre-production during the writer’s strike of 2007-2008, pushing the production date back and inflating the film’s overall cost. Despite its insane price, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides was only ranked the third highest-grossing movie of 2011, setting Disney back a few million bucks.
Avengers: Age of Ultron ($365 million)
The Avengers is the most successful movie series of all time, and Age of Ultron is the second most successful of the 4 that have been released. This movie had an insanely high starting budget, but they then pushed it close to $50 million over, due to post-production rushing from Marvel at the time. The cast and crew that worked on this movie spanned over 7 countries and 4 continents of shooting, and in addition to that, 3,000 visual effects shots were utilized in post-production. Despite its enormous, risky budget, this movie grossed over $1.4 billion worldwide, cementing it as the 5th highest-grossing movie of all time.
Avengers: Endgame ($356 million)
Originally called “Avengers: Infinity War - Part 2,” Avengers: Endgame was taken in a new, commanding direction by joint directors Anthony and Joe Russo. This movie tied every loose end of the past 22 movies that occurred within the Marvel universe, and every gripping plot twist was praised by critics and fans alike. This movie had the second largest budget of the series, but what it lacked in finances, it backed with good writing and sleek visual design. Endgame is currently the highest-grossing film of all time, surpassing its predecessor, Avengers: Infinity War, within just 11 days after its release. Avengers: Endgame grossed $2.8 billion so far, and it hasn’t even been a year since its release.
Avengers: Infinity War ($316 million)
The predecessor to its more successful counterpart, Avengers: Infinity War has been recognized as the 4th most expensive film ever made and the 4th highest-grossing film of all time. Based on the 1991 comic book “The Infinity Gauntlet” and the 2013 comic book “Infinity,” the Avengers attempt to stop a new (new to screens) threat named Thanos from collecting the Infinity Stones and wiping out half of the population of the universe. Despite the outcome of these efforts, Infinity War did wipe out half the population of every other movie in the box office during its run, Infinity War was the most expensive, and one of the highest-grossing films of all time when it was released, but was later usurped by its successor.
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End ($300 million)
The initially planned budget for this feature cemented it as the most expensive movie of all time, even after inflation, in 2007. Since then, this movie has obviously been toppled by some dudes in tights, but at the time this was an extremely ambitious move from Disney. Fortunately, their investments paid off by the end of the production schedule when Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End was by far the highest-grossing film of 2007, and it even beat the next year’s highest-grossing film. Despite its profitability, this movie was criticized for its confusing plot and lack of written direction.
Justice League ($300 million)
Justice League is probably the most heavily criticized large budget film of all time. With a $300 million budget, there wasn’t much that Zack Snyder couldn’t do with his ideas, but when his daughter tragically died, he stepped down and his position as director was assumed by Joss Whedon. This switch-up was most likely the cause of the disjointed criticisms of Justice League, critics and fans complained that while the action sequences were supremely cool, the plot and character development was dismal. Due to these overt criticisms, Justice League lost DC Studios around $60 million in projected box office money.
Solo: A Star Wars Story ($275 million)
This movie documents the lives of Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Lando Calrissian ten years before the events of A New Hope. This film passed through a few hands before it was written to the standards that Lucasfilms holds for Star Wars, and even though its writing started in 2012, it wasn’t released until later in 2018. Due to the constant delays, creative differences, shifts of hands, and constant changes, Solo became one of the most expensive films of all time. In addition to that, this was the lowest-performing Star Wars film of all time, grossing a mere $393 million worldwide before the end of its run.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker ($275 million)
The final film in the Skywalker timeline, after over 40 years of storytelling, reviewed pretty mediocre reviews when it was released. There isn’t much to say about the necessity of good writing in Star Wars films, but somehow this one received the most flack out of all of the sequel trilogy. After all was said and done, this film topped out at $990 million profit, partly because of the inclusion of post-humous Carrie Fisher and other cameos from the original trilogy. However, according to Disney, the Star Wars universe is just now beginning to expand outward, meaning there will be more Star Wars movies to be produced in the future.
John Carter ($264 million)
This movie cost an insane amount of money for the number of people who went to see it. Disney anticipated their adaptation of the legendary Edgar Rice Burroughs book “A Princess of Mars” to be a major success, but instead, it proved to be a commercial disaster. Too difficult to market yet too accessible to be considered avant-garde, John Carter could have used a little more tweaking before it hit the big screen. Regardless, this movie just barely broke even in the box office, likely because it had the Disney title (and because it’s not actually that bad, critics just love to inflate any mistake Disney makes because of their flawless track record).
Star Wars: The Last Jedi ($262 million)
Naturally, the 10th most expensive movie of all time would be a Star Wars film. If you haven’t noticed the trend here, Disney has practically cornered the market with big-budget movies that hit the top of the ranks. Don’t take that the wrong way though, we are not complaining as long as we keep getting the high-quality flicks that we expect from such a reputable source. The second to last addition to the 9 part Skywalker Saga grossed $1.3 billion when it came out in 2017, was the highest-grossing film of 2017, and is currently the second highest-grossing Star Wars film in history.
Tangled ($260 million)
Tangled began production as a 3D remake of Rapunzel but was quickly shifted to accommodate a more modern audience. Tangled exhibited two different styles of animation, both 3D and hand-drawn 2D adapted into one frame. Three separate studios were hired to construct this world, which drove the price of this film up significantly farther than anyone would have expected. After an unsettlingly cold release, this movie grossed $591 million, and even though it wasn’t the most successful animated movie of all time, it was by far the most expensive to produce.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($259 million)
The Force Awakens was the first Star Wars movie to come to theaters since the 2005 release of Revenge of the Sith. Star Wars Episode VII took a glance at the Star Wars universe after the events of Return of the Jedi and addressed an entirely new problem with some familiar faces helping along the way. Some critics called this movie laden with “fan-service” and bashed it for its inclusion of the original actors and characters, but at the end of the day, this film is widely considered to be one of the best Star Wars movies to date. The Force Awakens is currently the 4th highest-grossing film of all time, and it topped the charts as the highest-grossing movie of 2015 by close to $100 million.
Spider-Man 3 ($258 million)
If you ever meet someone that claims that Spider-Man 3 is their favorite movie, run as far away as fast as you can. Despite the memes, constant ridicule, and current distaste for the Tobey Maguire version of Spider-Man, this is the most successful Spider-Man movie of the original trilogy by a longshot. This was the third highest-grossing movie of 2007, but it still managed to lose Sony money because of its insane budget, which was the source of a good deal of the criticisms behind the movie.
Beauty and the Beast, 2017 ($255 million)
When Disney announced that there would be a live-action Beauty and the Beast coming out, critics and fans were in an uproar over how terribly the story could turn out. Critics wear nostalgia blinders sometimes, and they unreasonably criticize something before it comes out based on personal bias. This deludes themselves and their audiences. Fortunately for Disney, this movie was $255 million well spent, it was granted several international awards and it became the second highest-grossing film of 2017.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ($250 million)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was arguably the most action-packed and tense books of the entire series, and the movie adaptation did not disappoint. Not only was this the most well-marketed Harry Potter film, but it was also one of the most immediately exciting for fans to see. This movie set a box office world record for the biggest single-day success of any movie ever, and within the same week, it broke the biggest 5-day success record as well. In total, this movie grossed around $934 million, which some industry investors call “market wizardry.”
The Lion King, 2019 ($250 million)
This movie is one of Disney’s greatest successes to date, netting the company over $1.6 billion in revenue and surpassing Frozen to become the highest-grossing animated film of all time in less than 6 months after its release. Not to be confused with the 1994 classic, this iteration of the Lion King story is anything but playfully animated, in fact, this movie was shown to real lions and they showed brain activity of species recognition in CAT (no pun intended) scans afterward. In addition to being Disney's greatest animated success, the Lion King was also its most expensive endeavor in the animation department, which clearly paid off in the long run.
Transformers: The Last Knight ($239 million)
Paramount and Hasbro were not happy when they saw the price tag of this borderline catastrophe. Transformers: The Last Knight has been called one of the most uninspired movies of the 21st century, which makes sense because it’s literally an action film that’s specifically made to sell toys that people lost interest in around 2005. Despite its humungous budget and decent profit margin, the companies responsible for this film still lost just above $100 million, and it quite possibly could have cost Michael Bay the rest of his bland, yet explosive, directing career.
Avatar ($237 million)
If you or anyone you know is able to remember a single character’s name from James Cameron’s 2009 movie Avatar, you might be eligible for financial compensation. Despite its beautiful cinematics, cutting edge CGI, and revolutionary environmental storytelling through visual effects, this movie was a contextual flop that baffled critics as to why it was so successful. Avatar ushered in a new era of filmmaking right before the turn of the decade that has been called the “budget crutch,” where a movie is so expensive that there is absolutely no way it won’t flop just because of the sheer manpower it took to make it. In 2009, Avatar was both the most expensive movie ever made, and the highest-grossing movie ever made, however, this was overturned in later years when other filmmakers adapted the same strategies they used in Avatar in different, more marketable series.
The Dark Knight Rises ($230 million)
This movie was so insanely expensive because of how ambitious it was. Christopher Nolan thought that the only way to follow up The Dark Knight was to release a film that was equally as potent and prolific but mix up the scenery a lot. Regardless of whether it hit its mark or not, this movie grossed over $1 billion in a single year, and it’s widely regarded to be the best Batman movie ever made (some would argue that The Dark Knight is, but that’s a different battle for a different article). This film was shot in 6 different locations with Imax 77mm cameras to increase the picture quality exponentially from the standard 35-55mm film. Due to its niche needs, Nolan’s giant vision, and the general success of its predecessor, this movie was one of the most expensive to make of all time.
Spectre ($230 million)
Spectre was by far the most expensive Bond film to ever come out, toppling the scales at a projected $230 million, even though some sources suggest that it cost around $300 million when all was said and done. The price was driven so high because Columbia put a time crunch on the producers, letting them have only 6 months to shoot and pushing the movie out within a year of the start date of its production. Although it was the most expensive Bond film, it did not perform as well as Skyfall, but it did come fairly close, which is saying something.
Captain America: Civil War ($230 million)
The third and final installment of the Winter Soldier trilogy showcases a worst-case scenario in which the very powers that keep the world safe turn against one another in a clash of titans type scenario. This is the most critically acclaimed Captian America movie to date, featuring tons of unexpected, yet not contrived cameos and important social rhetoric that was not expected to be coming from such a major studio.
Because of its enormous critical acclaim and box office success, Captian America: Civil War became the highest-grossing film of 2016 and the 12th highest-grossing film of all time, and some think that this is the best marvel movie ever made.
The Fate of the Furious ($230 million)
The 8th installment of the Fast and Furious saga came hot off the presses and gartered $1.2 billion in revenue in 2015 alone. Due to its star-studded cast, high octane action sequences, and extremely high budget stunts, The Fate of the Furious is undoubtedly one of the highest performing and objectively best films of the series.
As time has gone on, the Fast and Furious franchise has gotten more and more profitable, and critics expect Fast & Furious 9 to gross even higher when it comes out on May 22nd this year.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales ($230 million)
The Pirates of the Caribbean as a franchise has a history of having production difficulties and a consistent script. Much like the earlier things that have been said about movies in this franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales was trapped in a production hole for almost two years, starting with a legal battle, then creative differences, then budget issues, finalizing itself in massive production delays that cost Disney millions of dollars worth of unnecessary expenditure.
In the end, this movie saw a slight profit, but nowhere near the success of any of the lower budget iterations in the franchise.
Maleficent ($226 million)
Maleficent was called Angelina Jolie’s “most confusing” movie ever, critics could not see why this film was made in the first place, and neither can we. At the time of its release, the whole evil stepmother dialogue was considered to be played out, and audiences were looking for more intense and cinematic films that used massive amounts of CGI and recognizable characters.
Regardless of it’s perceived impact, Maleficent was a commercial success overall, although critics bashed it for being inconsistent tonally. This was Angelina Jolie’s highest profiting movie, although it was admittedly one of her least favorite to produce.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian ($225 million)
Ever since Disney purchased the rights to The Chronicles of Narnia, the adaptations of these books have been cinematic powerhouses met with poor critical acclaim regarding their substance. Although the scriptwriters tried to keep the tone of the film as close to the books as possible, some critics believed that the simplicity of the premises presented in the novels was overwhelmed by the massive cinematic moments.
Regardless of its criticism, by the end of its run, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian became the 10th highest-grossing film in 2008, but still one of the lowest-performing Disney films of recent years.
The Lone Ranger ($225 million)
Not to be confused with the original “The Lone Ranger” that came out in 1956, the 2013 reimagination of this filmed packed in the theatrics and cinematics that made the story something it never was before, bad. This was by far Disney’s worst-performing film, and one of the biggest box office flops of all time. Despite its enormous budget, this film lost Disney close to $300 million, which was even larger than both the movie’s production and marketing budget.
Although this movie bombed and is considered unwatchable, it was nominated for two Oscars, one for best visual effects, and the other for best makeup and hairstyling. Needless to say, they didn’t win either.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest ($225 million)
This movie was the first sequel to the original Pirates of the Caribbean, and audiences went absolutely crazy for it pretty much immediately. Critics gave this film mixed, yet overtly positive reviews for its cinematics, plot, humor, and Johnny Depp’s outstanding performance.
Disney used ambitious technology and theming for this film, which ended up working out and causing Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest to become the highest-grossing film of 2006, as well as the highest-grossing Disney film at that time. Shortly thereafter, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest was usurped by Toy Story 3 as the best performing Disney film.
Man of Steel ($225 million)
This movie was extremely challenging to produce, its script was locked in a legal ownership battle for the duration of its time in production. It wasn’t until co-producer Christopher Nolan took the legal reigns and pushed Man of Steel forward that Warner Bros. finally allowed the Siegel family to reclaim their rights to the world’s most overpowered superhero.
The Siegel family then granted Zack Snyder the right to make Man of Steel, and the rest is history. Man of Steel was a box office success, grossing $668 million, which, for a Superman movie, is outstanding.
The Avengers ($220 million)
The original Avengers movie was a leap of faith that ended up snowballing one of the most successful and highly acclaimed movie series in the history of media. When the idea was initially pitched, the creators wanted to hold their story as close to the comic books as possible.
However, when the actors behind the superheroes started superimposing their own personalities into their roles, the production team rode that wave all the way to the top. The Avengers cost $220 million to make, but it grossed $1.5 billion, making it the third highest-grossing film of all time, and one of Empire magazines 100 greatest films ever made.
Rogue One ($220 million)
Despite being a Star Wars movie, Rogue One wasn’t given the same amount of TLC that the other Star Wars movies were. Regardless, the finished product was a refreshing look into the life of the X-Wing pilots who joined the young Jedi in destroying the Death Star once and for all (seriously, this movie came out in 1983, you should not be upset about this spoiler).
The production budget for Rogue One was abnormally low for a Star Wars film, and constant re-shoots caused the filmmakers to go over budget close to $20 million. Surprisingly, Rogue One became the third highest-grossing Star Wars movie in the series and is praised for its originality and style, thanks to a new director.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug ($217 million)
This is one of the highest critically acclaimed Lord of the Rings movies, one of the highest-grossing, and one of the easiest to make according to the cast and crew. Most likely due to its monstrous budget, filming The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug was a breeze for everyone involved, in fact, some of the actors treated their time on set as a New Zealand vacation.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug became the fourth highest-grossing film of 2013, and it surpassed The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers in profit, capping off at $958 million.
Men in Black 3 ($215 million)
Despite an overwhelmingly disappointing sequel, MIB3 brought the heat with a stylized re-representation of the original characters in the same vane of the first, beloved film. MIB3 was critically praised for being unapologetically what it was, a fan service film that pleased the masses, but still managed to tell its own individual story concisely.
MIB3 grossed $624 million worldwide, which didn’t break any records, but it was a positive affirmation to the writers that they had done what they needed to do to revive a dead franchise.
Oz the Great and Powerful ($215 million)
Oz the Great and Powerful was, through and through, intended to be a film that appealed to the whole family. Seriously, this movie is corny, kind of campy, and far too expensive cinematically for the screenwriting and performances.
James Franco’s role almost seems wasted in this star-studded, yet underwhelming feature flick. Most likely due to its accessibility, Oz the Great and Powerful was the 13th highest-grossing film of 2013, and Mila Kunis was given an MTV Movie Award for her role as the Wicked Witch of the West. Unsurprisingly, no other notable nominations were awarded.
Transformers: Age of Extinction ($210 million)
The Transformers movies have always been a statistical anomaly in the box office. On one hand, they are generally bashed by critics, who crush these films for their inauthenticity and lack of plot. On the other, they generally do supremely well in the box office, Transformers: Age of Extinction, in particular, making $1.1 billion during its run on the silver screen.
No matter where you stand on this matter, it is undeniable that Transformers: Age of Extinction lacks plot in place for cinematics, and its budget is the sole backbone of the film. This movie made a bunch of investors a ton of money, but at what cost?
Battleship ($209 million)
Prior to contrary belief, this is not a movie about the game “Battleship.” Well, it is, but not in the way you’d expect it to be. In fact, a 2.5 hour long single-shot documentary of two people playing multiple games of Battleship might have been more exciting (or would have done better) than what actually came out.
Unfortunately, Battleship was a box office failure, only grossing $65 million in North America, but making $303 million overall.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes ($209 million)
Now, this was a good movie. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes shocked audiences with its emotionally complex dialogue, its themes regarding global warming, and its criticism of modern political tactics. Even though one would expect the third sequel of a movie about monkeys taking over the world to be pretty terrible, this is one of those cinematic outliers that left critics scratching their heads, but overwhelmingly satisfied.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was a box office success story, capping at $710 million worldwide by the end of 2014. In addition to that, it was nominated for numerous Saturn Awards and an Academy Award, none of which were won, unfortunately.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies ($209 million)
This would have been an average Hobbit film if tragedy didn’t strike towards the end. Christopher Lee saw the last of his days on camera while shooting The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, because shortly after he passed away from congestive heart failure at 93 years old.
Besides that, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies received mixed reviews, and it grossed $956 million worldwide, some speculate that the high paycheck was due to media coverage of Christopher Lee’s death.
King Kong ($207 million)
King Kong tipped the scales of what could be considered a worthwhile, high-budget movie in 2005, With an initial plan to stay under the $150 million mark, production costs of King Kong skyrocketed when sudden inflation started to spike in the rental industry due to strikes. One extremely stressful production session and $57 million later, King Kong finally became a movie.
Despite its shaky start, King Kong seemed to garner some praise from fans and critics, claiming that it was one of the top “must watch” movies of 2005. King Kong reached $550 million in the box office and topped off another $100 million in DVD sales because that was still a thing in 2005.
X-Men: Days of Future Past ($205 million)
Although its counterparts are typically shredded by critics (no pun intended), X-Men: Days of Future Past seemed to slip through the cracks, being regarded as a perfectly reasonable, simplistic superhero movie. X-Men: Days of Future Past started and ended filming in Quebec, Montreal, where the crews had to push production back several weeks, inflating the price of their film by $20 million.
In addition to that, to get X-Men: Days of Future Past out on time, Marvel had to hire 12 different visual effects companies to take this movie from post to post-post. In the end, X-Men: Days of Future Past grossed $747 million, solidifying it as one of the most successful X-Men movies of all time.
Superman Returns ($204 million)
2006 was a dark time for movies, especially following the King King enigma of 2005 that shook up the entire market. Following the critical failure that was “The Quest for Peace,” Warner Bros. restocked their entire production team for Superman Returns, and they upped the ante, putting all their chips on red for this one.
Their investment didn’t come back completely dry though, Superman Returns was not heavily criticized, but it was knocked for its lackluster action scenes and its obnoxiously long runtime. Overall, this movie was a financial failure, and the affronted 2009 sequel that Warner Bros. teased at the end of the credits was shelved, then trashed in 2008.
Titanic ($200 million)
James Cameron was originally turned away by Paramount Pictures when he first proposed filming a fictionalized love story about two star-crossed victims of one of the greatest American tragedies to date. Titanic boasted a hefty $200 million price tag, which was absolutely unheard of in 1997 when the film was released.
James Cameron was originally turned away by Paramount Pictures when he first proposed filming a fictionalized love story about two star-crossed victims of one of the greatest American tragedies to date. Titanic boasted a hefty $200 million price tag, which was absolutely unheard of in 1997 when the film was released.
Spider-Man 2 ($200 million)
We can ignore the successor of this legendary superhero film that completely changed the industry as we knew it. Spider-Man 2 ripped a hole in the fabric of media space-time when it was released in 2004, challenging all other superhero movie producers to work harder and attempt to produce something like it.
Despite its $200 million budget (some think it was under that), Spider-Man 2 scooped up $783 million in profit, then, Spider-Man 3 blew all of that away.
Quantum of Solace ($200 million)
Quantum of Solace was widely considered to be the most violent film of the Bond series, but critics think that the violent energy that the movie put forth was its only redeeming quality. As the successor to the wildly popular and celebrated Bond film, “Casino Royale,” Quantum of Solace had some huge shoes to fill.
Unfortunately for Marc Foster and the rest of the team, those shoes proved to be just a little too big. Despite its critical failure, this movie managed to gather $586 million due to merchandise, game, and DVD sales.
Terminator Salvation ($200 million)
Terminator Salvation was a shotty critical failure from its beginning to its end. Initially, Warner Bros. didn’t even want this movie to exist, they were on the border of trashing the idea when McG and Derek Anderson started pre-production with their unsecured budget, locking themselves into the filmmaking process. Instead of cutting it off there, Warner Bros. let McG and the boys run free with the idea, which flopped, and all sequels were canceled with no word as to when they would be considered again.
In 2013, a comic book series came out dictating the future of Skynet and where the Terminator world went after the events of Terminator Salvation. This comic book did not sell well, but Terminator superfans were appreciative of the gesture. In total, this movie grossed $371 million, allowing Warner Bros. to just barely make an even cut, luckily.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen ($200 million)
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was the official moment that critics declared war on the entire Transformers franchise. This is not a bad thing, because the majority of the Transformers movies are barely watchable, especially Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
Despite its scathing reviews, and pleas from critics to not support this dopamine receptor inducing, big explosion every 20 seconds movie, it still led the market in home sales in 2009. For some reason, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen grossed just over $836 million, and they continue to push the envelope successfully every year.
2012 ($200 million)
2012 was an outrageous idea that somehow worked because the film market in 2009 made absolutely no sense. Following the popularization of the 2012 Mayan calendar world-ending memes that shocked both high schoolers and adults alike, 2012 quickly spat out by Columbia Pictures and they raked in the profit. For those who don’t know, Columbia Pictures poured $200 million into this movie that started production in August of 2009 and was out by November.
This plotless, characterless, money grab fearmongered masses into the theaters to capitalize on global misunderstanding, causing news organizations to report on widespread panic, several years before the events of 2012 were even supposed to occur. No, Roland Emmerich did not predict the future, but he did make millions of dollars and never had to make another movie again.
Toy Story 3 ($200 million)
Toy Story 3 was a landmark film for both the animation industry and Disney Pixar together. This was the first animated film to make $1 billion in the box office, and it received overwhelmingly positive critical acclaim all across the board. Toy Story 3 broke a ton of records, becoming the highest-grossing film of 2010, the highest-grossing animated film of all time, the highest-grossing Disney movie ever made, and the highest-grossing Pixar film by close to $400 million.
All of these records have turned over since then because of the commercial success of Tangled and Frozen, but Toy Story 3 had a pretty serious run when it was around.
Green Lantern ($200 million)
This movie was pretty bad. When we say pretty bad, we mean really, really bad. Ryan Reynolds was not in his element while playing the overwhelmingly serious Green Lantern, expressing nothing but his will and desire to no longer be in front of the camera.
Because of its extremely negative reception to the public, and the fact that despite its $200 million budget it only grossed $219 million in the box office, Warner Bros. canceled all further plans for the Green Lantern and focused on other, more successful ventures.
Cars 2 ($200 million)
Cars 2 was widely viewed as one of the few mistakes that Disney made over their years making movies hand in hand with Pixar. Cars 2 had an enormous budget, plenty of time to marinate, and a star-studded cast to carry the narrative wherever the writers wanted it to go.
The story was even mundane enough to be completely pedestrian. If they wanted to make a movie about Lightning McQueen and Tow-Mater opening a coffee shop, that would have worked better than the re-hashing of the coming of age tale where Lightning just gets a little faster than the last one. This movie roped Disney a cool $562 million, but the impact this movie had on the franchise was irreversible.
The Amazing Spiderman ($200 million)
Sony’s first attempt at making a successful, realistic Spider-Man movie crashed and burned when they released The Amazing Spiderman in 2012. Andrew Garfield was hailed for performing better than ever, delivering a showstopping rendition of Peter Parker that was both unique to the franchise and to the world, which ended up being the problem overall. The Amazing Spiderman depicted Spider-Man as a regular dude, which he isn’t, and fans did not appreciate that one bit.
A failed video game also dumped Sony deeper down into the hole with this one. However, because this is a Spider-Man movie, the box office went crazy with it, making Sony just over $757 million on the exchange, although most fans say that they didn’t deserve a single dollar.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey ($200 million)
Even though this movie wasn’t necessarily the most accurate or “fan-centric” take on what the Hobbit series was supposed to be, fans and critics both agreed that The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was a breath of fresh air in an otherwise predictable market.
This movie is set 70 years before the events of the original trilogy, and it tells the story of Bilbow Baggins, an unassuming Hobbit that gets himself in a little too deep thanks to his wizard friend, Gandalf. This movie made close to $1.1 billion in the box office, presumably by happenstance and timing, although it was pretty good.
Iron Man 3 ($200 million)
This was arguably the funniest, grittiest, most entertaining, and most memorable Iron Man movie of the bunch. Robert Downey Jr. steps up his game even further, delivering an unquestionably emotionally driven performance that moved some theatergoers to tears by the end. The action was precise and tight, the acting was spot on, and the cinematics were bar none some of the best of 2013.
This movie made a whopping $1.2 billion worldwide, and it boosed the Marvel Universe film stock even further than where it was before, driving the creation of the pantheon of films that it is now.
Monsters University ($200 million)
Monsters University is the first, and only, prequel that Pixar ever made. This movie tells the heartwarming story of Sully and Mike learning to live symbiotically at college, initially hating each other, but getting over their differences towards the end of the film and becoming best friends. If that’s a spoiler for you, you shouldn’t even be watching this movie.
Monsters University received overwhelming praise from critics, calling it one of the best movies that Disney Pixar has ever put out. All in all, Monsters University grossed $744 million by the end of its run, blowing its projected profit out of the water.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ($200 million)
This was Sony’s last film with the ownership of the rights to Spider-Man, and boy was this one a disappointment. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is the second-lowest performing Spider-Man movie to date, but critics claim that it was by far the worst.
Andrew Garfield puts on a great portrayal of Spider-Man, but it’s clear that the studio behind the movie wasn’t particularly knowledgeable of the history and personality of the character, so Sony decided to finally hand the rights over to Marvel. Overall, this film grossed $709 million worldwide, which was around 40% less than its projected profit.
Exodus: Gods and Kings ($200 million)
This movie was one of the most notable box office bombs of the 21st century, so much so that nobody really even remembers this movie at all. Exodus: Gods and Kings was supposed to tell the biblical story of Moses, but it missed some key contextual points and received a ton of critical backlash for casting white actors in place of canonically middle eastern people.
This movie earned $268 million worldwide, causing 20th Century Fox to fire their entire production department and start fresh with collaborators from more successful (and knowledgable) sides of the business.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ($200 million)
This was the perfect sequel for a near-perfect movie. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 cost significantly more to make than its predecessor, and what it gained in financial backing, it made up for in serious visual plot and beautiful visual effects. A third Guardians of the Galaxy is currently in the works, which will, in theory, tie the whole story together in the end.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 made $863 million worldwide by the end of its run, and with the Guardians’ inclusion in the Avengers trilogy, we can expect the third installment to do even better than the first and second.
Black Panther ($200 million)
Black Panther was the first Marvel movie to host a primarily black cast, have themes surrounding afro-history, and be directed by a black man. This was a huge leap for the industry, and it was voted to be one of the top 10 movies of 2018. Black Panther grossed $1.3 billion worldwide and it broke several box office records, including the highest-grossing film directed by a black man of all time.
Black Panther broke down many walls for major directors that otherwise did not see this as a feasible premise, and a second installment of the Black Panther universe is currently in the works and is said to be released in 2022.
Incredibles 2 ($200 million)
This movie had some big shoes to fill, and it seriously delivered a much different, yet appreciated, experience that audiences weren’t necessarily expecting. Instead of focusing on the development of the character’s superpowers like they did in the first Incredibles movie, Pixar took another angle by focusing on the family dynamic as the main talking point.
They highlighted the familial struggle that comes with all close-knit groups of people, regardless of whether they’re superheroes or not. Incredibles 2 grossed $1.2 billion during its run, making it the 4th highest-grossing animated film of all time.
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald ($200 million)
The budget of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald was hiked up when some domestic abuse allegations against Johnny Depp surfaced around the time of production for the film. Later debunked, these allegations created a sense of urgency for Depp and his legal team to address the problem personally, and Warner Bros. had to put this film on the back burner, temporarily.
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald was the lowest-performing Wizarding World movie, most likely due to the unnecessary stress that Warner Bros. put on the filmmakers to advertise future iterations of other Wizarding World films within this particular one. In the end, this movie made $653 million, but on a corporate level, it barely broke even.
Dark Phoenix ($200 million)
Despite its star-studded cast, beautiful creative direction, and top-notch marketing strategy, a bad movie will inherently never do well in theaters (unless it’s directed by Michael Bay, of course). Dark Phoenix marketed itself as a memorial film for the late Stan Lee, creator of all things Marvel, but particularly, it was the conclusion of the cinematic X-Men universal saga.
Jennifer Lawrence crushed her role as Phoenix, and Hans Zimmer bodied the score for the film as well, but sloppy writing and lazy cinematography damned this movie before it even got out of focus groups. Even though Dark Phoenix had a $200 million budget, it only grossed $252 million worldwide, prompting 20th Century Fox to sell the rights to Disney, right before they were purchased by them entirely.
Jennifer Lawrence crushed her role as Phoenix, and Hans Zimmer bodied the score for the film as well, but sloppy writing and lazy cinematography damned this movie before it even got out of focus groups. Even though Dark Phoenix had a $200 million budget, it only grossed $252 million worldwide, prompting 20th Century Fox to sell the rights to Disney, right before they were purchased by them entirely.
Hobbs and Shaw ($200 million)
As per usual, this Fast and Furious universe movie was criticized for its plot direction, runtime, and screen usage, but it was praised for its action sequences. Hobbs and Shaw was a particularly forgettable iteration of the Fast and Furious chronology, but because of its originality and intensity, it did well in theaters.
After grossing $758 million, Universal planned the release of 3 more Fast and Furious movies that are going to be offshoots of the overarching plot that they set up for themselves. That is, if you can call the Fast and Furious world one with a linear plot.