The most expensive movie per minute
It’s mind-blowing to think people were convinced Hollywood budgets were spiralling so far beyond control that the financial bubble was ready to burst over 30 years ago, when James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgement Day became the first-ever $100 million production. These days, though, blockbusters have become so expensive that sum is viewed as relatively thrifty in comparison to others.
Of course, Cameron has continued making some of the costliest features in history – with the combined budget for his Avatar sequels set to exceed a billion all told – but he isn’t responsible for the most cost-heavy film of all time. As revealed by Forbes, that accolade instead belongs to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, with Disney revealing in legal filings that after tax incentives, the seventh entry in the franchise cost an eye-watering $447m.
However, that doesn’t make it the most expensive movie ever in terms of a minute-by-minute basis, with Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom claiming that honour for itself. Originally estimated at a still-substantial $170m, Universal’s filings revealed that J.A. Bayona’s middle chapter ended up costing well over twice as much at a ridiculous $432m.
At the end of the day, Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard’s second stint at running away from digital dinosaurs was immensely profitable on account of earning $1.3 billion at the box office, but the fact the entire third act unfolds largely within a palatial mansion as opposed to a sweeping island begs the question as to how the costs could spiral so wildly out of control.
Breaking it down, with a running time of 128 minutes, including credits, Fallen Kingdom easily takes the crown for per-minute expense. For every 60 seconds that lapsed on-screen, Universal spent $3,375,000, which in turn means that one minute of the Jurassic World sequel cost significantly more than the entirety of Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver.
Crunching the numbers even further, one second of screentime equates to $56,250. By that metric, you could fund The Blair Witch Project and Clerks while still having change to spare, all for the sake of 24 frames in a tedious fantasy that boasts absolutely none of the magic of Steven Spielberg’s original despite setting Universal back nearly seven times as much as the game-changing 1993 phenomenon.
Blowing things apart to a minuscule level, each frame of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom comes in at roughly $2,344. For comparison’s sake, Satyajit Ray’s feature-length directorial debut Pather Panchali – regarded as one of the greatest films ever made – cost $3,000. Essentially, one single frame of the dino-tastic escapade required the same amount of funding as an indisputable cinematic classic that inspired and influenced multiple generations of filmmakers.
No offence intended, but it’s hard to believe Fallen Kingdom will have that sort of impact on anybody.
