How many of the 30 most-expensive films ever made have you seen?

This is a fitting place to start, given that you are going to see quite a few superhero movies on this list. “X-Men: The Last Stand” is from before such films saturated the market, and it also served as the third film in the original “X-Men” trilogy. Perhaps 20th Century Fox thought budgets were getting out of control, as it cost what is now $317 million to make.

“The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” was a big success, making more than triple its budget, a budget that was $30 million less than its sequel. “Prince Caspian” was made for what is now $318 million. However, it made over $300 million less than the first movie, which led to a budget dispute surrounding the third film, which led to Disney not making it and Fox producing “Voyage of the Dawn Treader.”

To think this franchise started with a low-budget, quasi-exploitation film about stolen laptops and street racing. “The Fast and the Furious” cost $38 million to make. “Fast 7” cost $250 million, which adjusted for inflation is $321 million. These days it probably costs $38 million to get Dwayne Johnson to agree to be in a “Fast” movie.

“Spider-Man” was by no means an indie film, but its success led to a major uptick in budget for Sam Raimi. “Spider-Man 2” cost a then-unheard-of $200 million to make, which adjusts to a heard-of-but-still-rare $323 million today. It paid off, though, as “Spider-Man 2” was a massive hit and a critical darling. Of course, that paved the way for, well, we’ll get to it in a bit.

Maybe it’s because he shot them all back-to-back, or maybe it’s because the actors weren’t big names, but you won’t find a single “Lord of the Rings” film in the top 30. The only appearance we get from Peter Jackson is “King Kong.” He used his “Lord of the Rings” cache to get the chance to remake the iconic giant ape movie, which he had been jonesing to do. He also got a budget that adjusts to $323 million. “King Kong” wasn’t a “Lord of the Rings”-level hit, though, and Jackson would find himself relegated back to the “Hobbit” world. Well, after “King Kong” and “The Lovely Bones,” the latter of which was the true misfire.

What an unfortunate end to Indiana Jones. It’s a shame, because it’s the only role Harrison Ford seems to have ever enjoyed playing. Otherwise, “Dial of Destiny” wouldn’t have happened. The movie’s production was protracted, impacted by COVID-19, and would eventually lose Steven Spielberg as director. Maybe because of all that time, or because of all the de-aging special effects, “Dial of Destiny” cost $326 million. It barely made its budget back in theaters, and also happens to be the least-enjoyable of the five movies in the franchise as well.

As we arrive at the first modern “Star Wars” movie, we will make a note and then it can just be taken as read going forward. Disney had to file full and audited production costs in the United Kingdom (the productions received heavy tax credits), and in 2023, the official budgets became known, with numbers different from those in the initial reports. “Solo” with its chaotic production and multiple directors, ended up costing what is now $329 million. Given this film effectively put an end to the idea of standalone “Star Wars” movies for a while, Disney probably didn’t find this one worth it.

When “Quantumania” hit theaters, there was a lot of complaining about the dodgy nature of the special effects. A movie that is almost entirely digital environments needs a lot of special effects, and that can cost a lot of money. Whether or not you liked the look of “Quantumania,” it still cost them $330 million. Then, all the Kang stuff they were setting up went out the window as well.

Yes, “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” was expensive. It cost $334 when adjusted. Also, basically nobody liked it. Batman and Superman came together, and even fought, and people mostly shrugged and made fun of the Martha thing. That being said, the movie was still financially successful, 2016-style, it made $874.4 million worldwide, which led to more DC films until it all finally collapsed.

People scoffed at James Cameron, and not for the first time. He was spending a ton of money to make some sci-fi film set on a fictional planet that, the horror, wasn’t based on an existing intellectual property? So much motion capture! “Avatar” cost $337 million, which is just outside the top 20 here but was obviously well within the top 20 when it came out in 2009. Once again, Cameron showed he knew what he was doing. Riding the brief resurgence of 3-D, “Avatar” became the highest-grossing movie in history, which remains true after doing some jockeying with a film we haven’t gotten to yet.

The “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise was super-pricey to make and this is only the first of these movies on this list. All that for a series of films based on a Disney ride. And not even a good Disney ride! Because the first movie was such a hit (and even weirdly got Johnny Depp an Oscar nomination), the second movie “Dead Man's Chest” got a major uptick in budget. The adjusted number is $340 million.

Hey, so they did make movies before the turn of the millennium! This is the first of only two ‘90s movies on this list. It also makes you realize all the chatter about “Waterworld” at the time was justified. Kevin Costner was still riding the wave of “Dances with Wolves,” a movie many were skeptical about. While he didn’t direct “Waterworld,” it was viewed as a Costner project, and he became tied to the price of the movie. It cost $172 million at the time, but that adjusts to $344 million. That, combined with poor reviews, has led “Waterworld” to be viewed as a total fiasco. It wasn’t quite that, as it made $264 million in 1995. That just wasn’t enough for a movie this pricey.

Now this, this is a true flop. You take a book most people haven’t heard of, “John Carter from Mars,” and then you shorten the title to the utterly generic “John Carter.” Oh, and you cast non-star Taylor Kitsch in the lead role and then rack up a budget that adjusts to $350 million. “John Carter” barely eked past its budget when it came out, which when you factor in marketing costs means the film cost Disney hundreds of millions of dollars. Yeah, the planned franchise was nixed. This may be the biggest fiasco in film history.

Huh. No other “Harry Potter” movie is in the top 30, and “Half-Blood Prince” is here just outside the top 15. What gives? Why did the sixth movie out of eight cost so much more than the rest, adjusting to $355 million? Well, a few new sets were built and there were some big special effects sequences, but nothing special. Of course, the franchise was a box-office machine by this point, and this film was necessary to continue the process of finishing the series, so it was all good in the end.

It’s wild that “Tangled” is so high on this list. This movie is animated. An animated movie should not cost $363 million to make. The next-highest animated movie is 2019’s version of “The Lion King,” the photo-realistic CGI one. It ranks 39th. That being said, “Tangled” made a ton of money (more than double its budget) and spawned a 60-episode TV spinoff, so it somehow managed to work out. Even if, again, an animated movie should not cost so much to make.

Big Jim doubled down and made an “Avatar” sequel that was even more expensive than the first. Skepticism was even higher this time. Many believed Cameron would never get around to making his planned “Avatar” sequels. Then, he made “The Way of Water,” and it cost a now-$364 million. Even Cameron admitted he needed the movie to make nearly $2 billion to possibly turn a profit. Well, “The Way of Water” made $2.320 billion. Cameron did it again.

When Marvel and Disney lost Scott Derrickson as the director of a high-budget superhero movie, they went into the bullpen and called on Sam Raimi, who once helmed the “Spider-Man” trilogy. The production was chaotic, and COVID-19 of course played a role. The budget ballooned to an adjusted $365 million. While “Multiverse of Madness” didn’t fully come together, it has some fun Raimi touches and it made nearly a billion dollars. The film managed to pull out of a nosedive, if nothing else.

Disney gave Rian Johnson $300 million to make “The Last Jedi,” which adjusts to $373 million. They also let him do his own thing, which proved totally fine because everybody was chill about his decisions. All in all, “The Last Jedi” is a good movie, but you can see some bloat in it, the kind that yields a massive budget. Of course, polarizing or not, “The Last Jedi” quadrupled its budget and generated money in numerous ways beyond the box office. It still scared Disney away from hiring a director with a vision going forward, though.

“Justice League” came out the same year as “The Last Jedi.” It cost the same amount to make, $373 million. The outcome was not quite the same. Production was a mess, some of it fun (Henry Cavill’s mustache), some of it tragic (the death of Zack Snyder’s daughter). In addition to being received even worse than “The Last Jedi,” “Justice League” only made a smidge over half its massive budget back, and effectively was the death knell of this era of DC movies. Yes, even though Snyder got to make his own cut eventually.

Did Sony fly too close to the Sun? “Spider-Man 2” had a huge budget, but it was also a critical hit and a massive commercial success. This led to “Spider-Man 3” being even bigger, and even more expensive. “Spider-Man 3” cost an adjusted $379 million. So everything fell apart and thus the franchise ended, right? Not so much! In fact, while reception was lukewarm, “Spider-Man 3” made the most money of the trilogy, $891.6 million unadjusted. It was the number-one film in the box office domestically. There were real plans for a fourth movie. However, Raimi got burnt out on all the studio notes, and when he backed out, the project was canceled.

The “Fast” movie got dumber and more fun and dumber and more fun and then…”Fast X.” Dumb? You bet! Fun? Not really! The reception for “Fast X” was lukewarm, even from fans of the franchise. This one, the 10th in the franchise, was super expensive as well. It also cost $379 million, and it didn’t even make double its budget back. Now here, here is a franchise that flew too close to the Sun.

We return to James Cameron one last time. It feels strange now, but “Titanic” was expected to be a fiasco, with skepticism even higher than for “Waterworld.” In a way, it makes sense. It’s the only film in the top 10 made before the year 2000, and one of only two in the top 20. Of course, this is Cameron, so you know the drill. It paid off and then some. The budget was $200 million at the time, which is $380 adjusted for inflation. It then became the first movie to gross over $1 billion and was the highest-grossing movie until Cameron topped himself with “Avatar.”

The Marvel Cinematic Universe was only a “Cinematic Universe” because it was building to two massive “Avengers” movies that brought everything together. “Infinity War” was the first of those two films. It cost $394 million, and that was a big gamble, given that this is basically a part one. It panned out, of course. One, because “Infinity War” was super successful. Two, because it paved the way for…

“Endgame” was the culmination. It got a slightly-bigger budget than “Infinity War,” as it is the first movie to adjust to over $400 million on this list. The budget now lands at $424 million. In terms of paying off, though, “Endgame” made over $2.5 billion and became the highest-grossing movie in history, before an “Avatar” re-release regained the record.

When an “Avengers” movie that is full of movie stars and is tying together over a decade of films costs over $400 million adjusted, we can kind of see it. A random “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie, though? The third movie in the franchise cost $300 million at the time and adjusts to $441 million. Was it worth it? Well, it made over triple its budget. It’s important to know that the “Pirates” movies were huge overseas. That covered a lot of financial gambits.

That’s right, “Endgame” is not the most-expensive Marvel movie. That honor, such as it is, goes to “Age of Ultron.” Disney probably doesn’t wish this was the case. “Age of Ultron” was received in something of a lukewarm fashion, and it didn’t make “Endgame” money. Adjusted, it cost a whopping $469 million. It did make over $1.5 billion, though, and it kept the franchise machine going.

Speaking of movies that were received in lukewarm fashion. J.J. Abrams returned after Johnson directed “The Last Jedi” to do his thing of not rocking the boat. The trilogy thus ended up closing in murky, and to many dissatisfying, fashion. It was also only a marginal success by modern movie standards. “The Rise of Skywalker” cost $416 million, which adjusts to $496 million, and it made just over a billion. That was enough to cause Disney to pump the brakes on the franchise.

Disney said, “Okay, the budget for ‘At World’s End’ got a little out of hand, and Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom aren’t returning for the fourth movie, so we can chill out on the spending here.” Just kidding. Disney dropped what adjusts to a whopping $513 million for “On Stranger Tides.” Seriously, this franchise’s history is absolutely wild. However, thanks to those non-domestic audiences, “On Stranger Tides” made over $1 billion and Disney was able to justify a fifth movie in the franchise.

Alright, we had some fun at the expense of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, but this? This movie is the second most expensive film in history? “Fallen Kingdom?” The worst movie in a franchise that has exactly one good movie in it? This movie has a human clone in it! It cost $524 million when adjusted for inflation. It didn’t even make its (unadjusted) budget back domestically, but thanks to those overseas audiences “Fallen Kingdom” did manage to pull in $1.3 billion. Man, people really loved going to the movies in the late 2010s.

Those U.K. financial disclosures really changed the most-expensive-movie landscape. “The Force Awakens” now reigns supreme as the priciest movie ever made. It cost $447 million in 2015 dollars, and even that number would be sixth on this list. Adjusted, though, “The Force Awakens” cost $575 million. Apparently it took a ton of money to bring the “Star Wars” universe back to the big screen (and to pave over the potholes of the prequels). All that said, first off, nobody should shed a tear over a multimedia conglomerate that really feels like it wants to be a monopoly a lot of the time, spending a ton of cash. Secondly, it paid off. “The Force Awakens” made over $2 billion domestically and is the highest-grossing film in history in terms of domestic box office. Plus, all its success opened the door for Disney to make three other movies on this list that all also turned a profit and fed Disney+. The company has made that $575 million back several times over at this point.