The business of making movies is an expensive one. As an audience, sometimes we don’t even realize how much money goes into the fictional storylines and fantasy worlds that allow us an escape from our average reality. Some films are fortunate enough to not just make back what they spend, but profit enormously. And others… become flops or forgotten in time, and a few have even bankrupted a studio or two after their commercial failure.
[post_page_title]Cleopatra: $339.5 Million[/post_page_title]
Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, was the most expensive film made during its time. The project cost $339 million, which was a staggering expenditure for a production studio in 1963. The original budget for the film was $31 million but after a short time of filming, the director and crew made a considerably large dent in in the bank after exceeding the approved budget.
Cleopatra won four Academy Awards and was the highest grossing film of ’63, although, the film’s profit couldn’t make up for the amount of money it largely spent. Liz Taylor’s greatest film was the reason 20th Century Fox went bankrupt a year later.