Best Six Most Expensive Movies Ever Made

Awhile back, we put together an inflation-adjusted list of the Most Expensive Movies Ever Made. Of course, it’s hard to call a $100 million film the most expensive movie ever made when movies regularly exceed twice as much nowadays. So, without further ado (or inflation adjustment), we present the top six most expensive movies ever made.

James Cameron’s Avatar – $500 million

James Cameron, the director who brought us “Titanic and the Terminator franchise, may have outdone himself with his latest endeavor. He’s certainly outbudgeted himself—and everyone else in Hollywood—with Avatar.

Not to be confused with The Last Airbender, the movie follows humanity’s attempts to exploit the resources of an alien planet through hybrid human-alien “avatars.” It features a far less celebrated cast than its budget might suggest—aside from Cameron himself, the biggest names attached to it are Giovanni Ribisi and Sigourney Weaver.

Cameron first wrote the script for Avatar in 1994, but delayed production until the technology caught up with his vision. Avatar uses an innovative new motion capture camera that allows the director to watch the actor’s interaction with the computer generated world as they’re filmed, an enormous performance-capture stage called The Volume and a special skullcap for recording facial expressions. Additionally, the entire movie is being filmed in 3D.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End – $300 million

The final installment in Disney’s Pirates trilogy, At World’s End resolved the stories of Captain Jack Sparrow (Depp), Will Turner (Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Knightley). The most expensive movie ever made received mixed reviews, but won “Best Movie” at the People’s Choice Awards. It earned slightly less than its predecessor with a gross revenue of just under $1 billion.

Spider-Man 3 – $258 million

Director Sam Raimi’s third Spider-Man movie, featuring Tobey Macguire in the titular role and Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson, boasted not one but three major villains—Sandman (Thomas Haden Church), Venom (Topher Grace) and the New Goblin (James Franco). The film grossed nearly $900 million.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest – $225 million

The sequel to Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl introduced the trilogy’s betentacled villain, Captain Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) of the Flying Dutchman. Actors Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom returned, of course, to reprise the roles that made the first movie such a hit. Dead Man’s Chest was a hit at the box office and earned over $1 billion.

X-Men: The Last Stand – $210 million

The third installment of the X-Men series saw Brett Ratner stepping into the directorial shoes to replace Bryan Singer as the mutant misfits’ world is turned upside down by forces both internal and external. The film received mixed reviews, but earned higher than either of its predecessors with $459,359,555 gross revenue. It was followed in 2009 by X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

King Kong – $207 million

The iconic ape returned to the silver screen for the first time in nearly 30 years in this 2005 remake of the original 1933 film. The film featured Naomi Watts as Kong’s number one lady and Jack Black as the inscrupulous film director looking to bank on the prodigious primate. Universal Studios certainly turned a profit with over $500 million in gross revenue.

Best 10 Most Influential Movies of the 40s

10) The Bicycle Thief (1948)

– in a post-war torn Italy comes Vittorio de Sica’s Ladri di Biciclette (The Bicycle Thief), a riveting and vastly gritty study in survivalist realism. Balancing the delicate topics of a relationship between father and son and the importance of survival during difficult times, The Bicycle Thief is an example of how film should reflect the truth no mater how gritty it might be.

9) Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

– John Huston’s chilling and realistic cinematic depiction of greed in the wilderness of Mexico, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, is an effective mix of different genres, mostly inspired in the vein of the western, and despite its historical limitations has quite the undying message about man’s selfishness and brutal tendencies. Huston was able to capture the dry and unforgiving scenery quite accurately, which reinforced the phenomenal performances from Humphrey Bogart, Tim Holt, and Walter Huston.

8 The Great Dictator (1940)

– The Great Dictator was the socially conscious comedy from the renowned actor and director Charlie Chaplin and was his first film that contained dialogue. Taking on the task of mocking Hitler and the German fascist movement, Chaplin put himself in the limelight as an artist willing to take risks and in the end made a production that was astoundingly ahead of its time.

7) It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

– practically the only holiday film worth watching over and over again, Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life is the moral tale about George Bailey, in a natural and emotional performance from Jimmy Stewart, that widely embraces the idea that cherishing what you have rather than what you want is a key to understanding happiness. The very fact that this film is played every year around Christmas is a testament to its timeless message and its long lasting quality as a film.

6) The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

– the unforgettable adaptation of John Steinbeck’s finest piece of literary work was safe in the hands of John Ford who made The Grapes of Wrath an eloquent spectacle of survival, family, and hardship. Ford’s delicate handling on the subject of family has been one of his strengths throughout all his films and The Grapes of Wrath is probably his finest attempt, utilizing the remarkable Henry Fonda as the pivotal character that brings this fine piece of cinema together.

5) The Maltese Falcon (1941)

– John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon is a one of a kind detective murder mystery that deals with the essence of right and wrong as well as some distinct human characteristics such as greed and disloyalty which seem to be ingrained in all of us. With marvelous pacing and finely tuned directing, The Maltese Falcon is as enjoyable as it is a symbol for classic filmmaking (It’s the stuff dreams are made of).

4) The Third Man (1949)

– Carol Reed’s The Third Man is a beautifully dark and thought provoking mystery thriller that was vastly ahead of its time in the vein of cinematography using a very dark and bleak photography that only accentuated its exceptionally twisted storyline. It’s an engaging piece of cinema that is incredibly artistic and quite modern in its technical delivery, especially in the epic and nerve wracking chase scene in the sewers of Vienna.

3) Double Indemnity (1944)

– the mystery insurance scam noir Double Indemnity is a twisted tale of lust, greed, and murder that engages the audience using a hapless and tragic anti-hero. Billy Wilder tightly directs this difficult and mature thriller exceptionally well, with out of character performances from Frank MacMurray and Edward G. Robinson, and is an unparalleled example of the artistic credibility the noir genre has to offer.

2) Casablanca (1942)

– the cinematically iconic Casablanca is director Michael Curtiz’s masterpiece about love and loss, utilizing perfect performances from Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman that only aids to the brilliant and effective screenplay. Consistently referred to as “the film you’ve seen even if you haven’t seen it” shows just how pertinent and influential it has been to cinema and is rewarded for its contribution by sitting in the third position on the AFI top 100 films list.

1) Citizen Kane (1941)

– Orson Welles’ non-linear narrative about greed, power, and loss, was the most technically innovative film to come out of the 40s and practically defined the modern method of filmmaking. Citizen Kane was a social critique that used ingenuity, expressive lighting, and phenomenal acting that has critics all over claiming it to be the finest film ever made sitting at the top position on the AFI top 100 films list.

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order): How Green Was My Valley, Notorious, The Best Years of Our Lives, The Magnificent Ambersons, The Shop Around the Corner, Henry V, The Big Sleep, Fantasia, Red River, and Rebecca.

Best 10 Badass Movie Villains

While there is a little overlap with this previous list, the members of this list are all suited to it sufficiently to overlook the duplication. These are characters who are not necessarily evil to the core – that would be another list – and in some cases you even have sympathy or fondness for the character.

10.Mrs. Iselin - Dame Angela Lansbury

She doesn’t gun down busloads of people, but there’s more than one way to be bad-ass. Mrs. Iselin is the wife of a senator, and her son, Raymond Shaw, hates her domineering attitude toward him. Shaw has been brainwashed by Soviet Communists years before the movie begins, and his own mother is a communist agent working undercover in America in order that she and her husband (really just she) gain all power in the White House. She does this by using her own son, Shaw, as a tool. She has absolutely no love for him. Or anyone else. All she wants is global power.

The idea of brainwashing her own son, of which activity she was the driving force, in order to force him to assassinate the President, after which Shaw goes to jail and she gets the power, is monumentally bad-ass!

9.Sgt. Alonzo Harris - Denzel Washington

He’s got better performances under his belt, but this one is outstanding. Harris gets into hot water when he personally beats a Russian mafia member to death in full view of people in Las Vegas. You gotta be bad-ass to willfully screw around with the Russian mafia.

They demand monetary recompense, and he sees to this by breaking the law every time he has to, robbing a known drug dealer, personally executing that drug dealer with a shotgun at point-blank range, enjoying his dying breaths in the process, robbing drug dealing street punks, and personally threatening to kill his own brand-new partner if he talks! He threatens him twice with guns, forces him to smoke a PCP-laced joint, then berates and threatens everyone in his entire neighborhood when his partner finally confronts him! That’s called FTW! That’s what that’s called!

8.Daniel Plainview - Daniel Day-Lewis

Not an easy choice, given the definition of bad-ass, but I say he is. All he cares about is money. That’s it. And he will gladly kill every person on the planet to get more of it. Luckily oil drilling doesn’t require genocide, but he does see fit to execute a complete stranger who lies to him for a cut of the money.

Then he buries the body to hide the evidence. He publicly beats the minister of a small town, the sort of thing that will be found out by everyone in town sooner or later. Does he pick up and leave? No way! Just stays and keeps drilling the oil for himself. He blatantly reneges of monetary promises, and if you believe in God and jesus and such, dig this: he allows the minister to baptize him, provided that he gets the last tract of land in the area, to build a pipeline through it. He could not care less about the baptism. He uses God himself as a tool to get more money.

At the end, he cements his legacy by beating the minister to death with a bowling pin, after humiliating him. His own butler just stands and looks at him sitting next to the body. No surprise. Now that’s bad-ass.

7.Archibald Cunningham - Tim Roth

A Britishman who dresses like a French fop. Even the characters around him think he’s gay, let alone public sentiment today. But he’s one of the finest swordsmen in the world, and derives sadistic ecstasy in dispatching a duelist one piece at a time, slowly, methodically, until the poor guy is helpless and terrified.

Ol’ Archy’s most bad-ass move by far, though, is slowly, methodically raping the helpless wife of a Scotsman who has irritated him. The Scottish are beneath him, he feels, and sees nothing wrong with raping and killing them. Then he leaves her alive to grieve.

Then the much larger Scot challenges him to a duel. Cunningham doesn’t even hesitate. “Bring him on.” And he enjoys himself immensely, slicing the Scot again and again, until the Scot finally kills him. Dead or not, Cunningham is one mean jerk!

6.Tony Montana - Al Pacino

No death scene has ever been more FTW!!! than Montana’s. He’s the greatest druglord in all creation, and uses more of his cocaine than anyone else. He just doesn’t give a flying rip. But that’s the thing. He never did. All the rival gang members in the world come down on top of him, and does he call security? Piss on security!

He loads a particularly grandiose self-defense weapon and proceeds to take on all comers. He just wastes ‘em right and left like rats. They shoot back, but he deliberately hocked himself up on coke beforehand, and now he’s nearly unstoppable. Shot after shot goes through his torso, and he takes ‘em like a man and shoots back, grenades and full-auto. His rivals can’t even take him off his feet! He’s just lost his sister, so he doesn’t care anymore. He just stands there shooting back and taunting them! They finally have to shoot him in the back.

His most bad-ass scene, though, is much earlier, when a drug deal goes sour, and he’s captured. The buyer demands all the drugs. He threatens Montana with a chainsaw! Montana is tied up and defenseless, and what does he do? He taunts the buyer to his face! “Why don’t you stick your head up your ass? See if it fits.”

5.Don Logan - Sir Ben Kingsley

In the annals of bad-ass scriptwriting, this one has to be #1! Kudos to the writer, whoever you are, because all those repeated Nos and Yeses and such are actually written that way on the page! Kingsley wasn’t ad-libbing! But the marvelous performance is all his, and he based it on his grandmother! Talk about Thanksgiving.

Logan wants the ol’ gang’s best safecracker back in action for one more heist. The safecracker is retired and living the sweet life in sunny Spain. Not an easy person to convince to return to a life of crime. Logan actually pulls it off, at the ultimate cost of his life, granted, but he just refuses to back off.

He smashes a beer bottle over the safecracker’s head, he screams like a lurching gorilla right into his ear, he howls, he kicks walls, threatens everyone around him with death, he publicly trashtalks the safecraker’s wife, Jackie, and lady friend, says how lousy they both were in bed. The safecracker’s wife is an ex-porn star, and Logan makes several points of that. He walks right up to a kid with a rifle pointed at him and mocks his fear.

And nobody, NOBODY, has ever unleashed a torrent of awe-inspiring, profanity-laced volcano language on the level of Don Logan. “Laced” isn’t the proper word. It’s profanity-inundated. If it’s an art, this guy is Jackson Pollock. “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!!! No f___ing way! No f___ing way! No f___ing way! No f___ing way! You made me look a right c___!” “I don’t give two s___s what Jackie Big-Tits thinks, she can think what she f___ing likes!” “I WON’T LET YOU BE HAPPY!! WHY SHOULD I?!?!” “F___ off, wanker! You’re doing it!”th

This guy played Gandhi!

4.Bill “the Butcher” Cutting - Daniel Day-Lewis

He’s so bad-ass that you love him! You want to see him dead more than anything in the world, but not for awhile. First you want to see him be bad-ass! He’s certainly got the coolest threads of anyone on the list. He smokes hash, he shoots morphine, he bangs hookers three and four at the time, and he rules the Five Point with “a spectacle of fearsome acts.”

He cudgels his political rival, a man many people in the area like a lot, with the rival’s own club. But that’s after he throws a meat cleaver into his back. Dozens of people witness it. No one dares say a word or try to stop him. “Why doncha burn him? See if his ashes turn green?” he mocks an onlooker over the dead body. This guy is none too fond of the Irish. “If only I had the guns, Mr. Tweed, I’d shoot each and every one of them before they set foot on American soil.”

He stands his ground and fights like a man, charging right into a crowd of opposing gangs. He lost a fight once, and personally cut out his own left eye, and sent it to the victor wrapped in blue paper. As a show that he would never look away again. “I would’ve cut ‘em both out, if I could’ve fought him blind.”

No loyalty. He is the man. Everyone else is loyal to him. Or dead.

3.Darth Vader- David Prowse, James Earl Jones, Sebastian Shaw

All the geeks were sweating up to now, I’m sure. No argument, Darth Vader is an icon of bad-assness. All he wants is the rebel alliance crushed. They’re a threat to the empire, and he has no qualms about obliterating an entire planet of innocent species to draw those rebels out of hiding. He cuts off his own son’s hand. He tries his best to tempt him to the dark side, and when that fails, he threatens to tempt his daughter, of whom he has just learned. He says it with such malicious glee. He loves his job!

Hayden Christensen is not included for good reason. If I ever feel like ranking the biggest p_____s (female reproduction orifices), I expect he’ll make the list.

The original Vader just stalks around force-choking people to death. “Apology accepted, Captain Nieder!” Then on top of all that, he has a change of heart at the last second and personally kills the emperor at the cost of his own life.

2.Dr. Hannibal Lecter - Sir Anthony Hopkins

How do you escape a super-ultra-hypermax security prison-asylum? Arrange to be transferred to anther facility, with more moderate security. True, the opportunity is lucky, but Lecter is always on watch for such things. I deliberated about whether he belonged, since he’s psychopathic. That means he has no feelings for the soul of anyone around him. But it doesn’t detract from his fearlessness, his sadism, or his brilliance. Nobody’s ever had a more horrifying stare.

Never mind that he eats people, first, he totally mindf___s Clarice, all just to grab a little payment for himself: moderate security. Then he still has to escape, which isn’t going to be easy. He picks his cuffs, he efficiently beats down both well armed guards. Then, to cement his legacy among the baddest of the bad-ass, he changes clothes with one guard, cuts his face off while he’s still alive, puts it on his own, and rides right out on a gurney. No one saw it coming. That’s after he disembowels the other guard and hangs him from his jail cell. He puts the guard’s pancreas on the guard’s head. He even has the nerve to call Clarice later–at the FBI’s headquarters–to let her know he’s out and having the time of his life. And he tells her a bad joke, “I’m having an old friend for dinner.”

1.The Joker - Heath Ledger

Let’s run through the logic on this one: this guy robs a mafia-owned bank, rigs the heist so that all his accomplices kill each other, he kills the last one, takes only the mafia’s money, $60,000,000, and then personally confronts every one of the mafia bosses at the same time. He walks right in laughing! They know he’s the one who robbed them, and he proceeds to make things worse by killing one of their underlings with his disappearing-pencil trick. He gleefully mocks them about paying for his new suit, then deliberately insults the one who’s angriest. Why? Well, because he’s the angriest. What makes this guy tick?

He lets on that he only robbed them to initiate a citywide war with one of the baddest crime-fighters in 20th Century fiction. It’s good sport. He demands half of the mafia’s money in exchange for killing Batman. This is after he’s robbed them. Later, he lets the angry mafia boss capture him, just so he can cut the guy’s throat. Then the Joker goes right about his business!

He executes people daily throughout Gotham just to make Batman take his mask off and give up. Why? He explains that to Batman after he rigs his own capture. “I wanted to see whatcha’d do! And ya didn’t disappoint!”

What the hell makes this guy tick? He explains himself to Harvey Harvey Harvey Dent, after he’s sure Dent won’t be returning to the land of heroes. “I’m an agent of chaos.” Folks, in my opinion, that is the definition of bad-ass. How do you deal with a guy like this? He’s so bad-ass that he has no rules! He tries to execute innocent hostages just to play a little game with Batty.

Then on top of everything else, he actually has the nerve to justify himself to Batman. “I’ll show ya. When the chips are down? These uh…’civilized’ people? They’ll eat each other. See, I’m not a monster. I’m just ahead of the curve.” Then he just lets Batman beat him for a while, and laughs in his face the whole time. You cannot get more bad-ass than that.

Best 10 Horror Movies of All Time

10. Dawn of the Dead (Original)

I really enjoy George Romero's Night of the Living Dead, but as far as zombie movies are concerned his follow-up, Dawn of the Dead, tops the list. Launching into its sordid story with but the slightest of explanations, this film is at once a thrill ride and a languid mood piece: Ken Foree exudes calming authority as Peter, the SWAT team leader who anchors a foursome of refugees who hole up in a shopping mall after humanity discovers 'there's no more room in hell.' While much has been made in subsequent years of the film's running anti-consumerist commentary, the film proves to be much more interesting as a character study than a treatise on the dangers of too much shopping; but a healthy dose of gore, combined with some wicked humor and considerable invention on the part of the filmmakers makes this Dawn a sunrise you'll want to watch all day and night.

9. Frankenstein

Based on the Mary Shelley novel about a mad scientist who reanimates dead tissue, this is a lasting film that helped to define the horror genre early on. Featuring Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's monster, it is a masterpiece of mood. The characterization of the monster makes him utterly human, making for a rare sympathetic character in horror cinema. Who can forget the famous line "It's alive!" or the monster throwing a young girl into the pond when he runs out of flower petals?

8. Evil Dead 2

Sam Raimi's sequel to the low-budget splatterfest The Evil Dead surpasses its predecessor by leaps and bounds, if only because its humor is intentional rather than inadvertent. But more than merely leavening the gore with a heaping dose of gags, Raimi attacks horror convention with surgical precision, eviscerating a decade of slasher-movie clichés (much less otherworldly terrors) and employs inventive, frenetic camerawork to create an all-new template that few if any could decipher, much less put to proper use. Bruce Campbell, meanwhile, proves to be the most game – not to mention shameless – leading man in the history of the movies, offering one relentless, self-deprecating sight gag after another; but together they craft a new vision of horror that transcends the limitations of box office or budget with creativity and enthusiasm. We guarantee this is the most fun you will ever have being frightened.

7. An American Werewolf in London

An American Werewolf in London, the 1981 film from director John Landis, stars David Naughton, Griffin Dunne and Jenny Agutter as two American tourists in London who are attacked by a werewolf that none of the locals will admit exists. The movie is a favorite among horror fans for its meshing of straight-up scares with intentionally funny and ironic moments.

6. Poltergeist

Family-friendly director Steven Spielberg teamed up with cult horror director Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) for this creepy 1982 haunted house flick. Directed by Hooper, and co-written by Spielberg, Michael Grais & Mark Victor, Poltergeist contains a great mix of creepy moments and special effects to create a very smart and entertaining horror movie. An excellent example of the film's spooky tone is the scene in which 5-year-old Carole Anne (Heather O'Rourke) declares "They're here..." (which was also the focus of the film's one-sheet).

5. Halloween

The film that gave birth to the modern American slasher film. Unfortunately, it also gave birth to some pretty poor imitators and an endless string of '80s horror sequels that could never live up to their originals. But that's besides the point. Director John Carpenter made a star and scream queen out of Jamie Lee Curtis and crafted a frightening scare-fest that helped boyfriends get closer to their girlfriends in theaters and living rooms to this day. It remains the best work Carpenter ever did, and that score is positively unforgettable and creepy. Maybe best of all, the film created an iconic boogeyman out of a repainted Captain Kirk mask. I know I always found Shatner pretty scary.

4. Jaws

The production of Jaws hit several snags, and the animatronic shark that was created for the movie failed, resulting in the haunting snippets of the shark and the implied terror it was causing. This resulted in a tight, suspenseful film that more than stands the test of time. Filled with classic moments (the opening death, the exchange of scar stories) and lines ("We're going to need a bigger boat"), Jaws is both dramatic and chilling, and is responsible for a couple generations' worth of irrational fear of the water. Among Steven Spielberg's early works, this is the crowning achievement, and one of the most terrifying and well-cast pieces of horror cinema around.

3. Rosemary's Baby

Featuring a young and vibrant Mia Farrow (Woody Allen's longtime wife), Rosemary's Baby is the horrifying account of a woman who believes she has been impregnated by Satan himself. Trapped in an apartment building with overzealous neighbors and boxed in by a demanding husband, this is almost more of a psychological thriller than horror film. Directed by Roman Polanski before his exile from America, it stands with Chinatown as one of his great contributions to cinema.

2. The Exorcist

Faithfully based on William Peter Blatty's 1971 best-selling novel of the same name, The Exorcist tells a story of a young girl (Linda Blair) who's possessed by demons. Masterfully directed by William Friedkin (previously known for The French Connection), the film features horrifying and sensational scenes, some nauseating special effects (pea soup, anyone?), and great acting (12-year-old Blair steals the show, while Jason Miller and Max von Sydow also turn in wonderful performances, as the preists attempting to exorcise the demons). The film's creepy title tune, "Tubular Bells," became a #1 single on the Billboard charts, and The Exorcist went on to win two Academy Awards (for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Sound) and another eight nominations, including Best Picture.

1. The Shining

An absolute masterpiece of atmosphere and tension, Stanley Kubrick's The Shining isn't merely the top choice on IGN's list of horror movies, but my personal genre favorite: Jack Nicholson comes unhinged – perhaps permanently – as the failed novelist and hotel manager who succumbs to madness after spending a long winter cooped up in the creepy confines of the Overlook Hotel, and offers one of cinema's most indelible portraits of suspense ever created. Unlike so many others on this list, Kubrick's film is surprisingly light on gory action; the first time I watched it I had to stop it halfway through, and nothing of note had yet happened. But once it shifts into high gear, racheting anticipation with multiple storylines including Jack's wife, child, and a helpful hotel employee played by Scatman Crothers, there's no suppressing its irresistible, nail-biting allure: from the dismembered twins to the disguised, canoodling partygoers in Room 237, The Shining offers frights that last long after the film is finished.