The movie with the most expensive set of all time
Making a movie will always rack up a considerable sum, even if working with a shoestring budget. From paying the cast and crew and funding high-quality filming equipment to sourcing costumes, props, locations and more, it’s unlikely that a successful film will cost any less than a few million to make.
The average blockbuster costs tens of millions, potentially even a few hundred million, with 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens currently holding the title of the most expensive movie ever made with a breathtaking budget of $447million.
A huge budget isn’t always necessary to create a successful film, however. You only have to look at Quentin Tarantino’s debut feature, Reservoir Dogs, made on a budget of roughly $1 million, to find proof that critically lauded productions can be created for a fraction of the cost.
However, when a movie does have sizeable financial backing behind it, this can give the filmmaker more creative freedom to bring their ideas to life. As demonstrated by films like James Cameron’s Avatar, massive budgets often allow directors to innovate cinema with previously unachievable ideas.
Some movies, meanwhile, require elaborate set designs to bring their worlds to fruition and make the viewing experience more immersive. Rich fantasy worlds are hard to achieve without pummelling a lot of money into crafting realistic sets, which is why series like Avatar and Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings have cost such an impressive amount of money.
However, one film reigns triumphant regarding the amount of money spent on set design: Cameron’s 1997 epic blockbuster, Titanic. It was the most expensive movie ever made upon its release, costing $200m in total. Although that feat has now been claimed by Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the amount of money spent on set design alone has not yet been surpassed.
The romantic drama, which chronicles the fateful night that the Titanic sank, required impressive sets that mirrored the actual boat. To achieve this, 20th Century Fox created Baja Studios to house their near-life-size replica, which became home to the world’s largest water tank made for cinematic purposes. The studio cost around $20m to make, and that was before the ship had even been created.
To make the movie as accurate as possible, Cameron recreated the details of the Titanic with intense precision. Both the interiors and exteriors were carefully replicated, inevitably racking up a cost of about $40m. Although Cameron was given the opportunity to make a replica of the ship that could actually be taken out to sea, he chose not to.
Cameron told GQ: “We talked about literally going to the shipyard in Poland and building the Titanic. I said, ‘All right, great. So, they can build a Titanic for us for $10 million? Yeah, we should think about that. Now, if we sink it, how many takes do we get?’ ‘Hmm, one.’ You know what I mean? It’s like, ‘What if I want a second take?’ So, anyway, we decided not to build the Titanic as an actual floatable ship.”
Instead, an impressive replica was made, taking up a massive chunk of the budget. Luckily, no one needed to worry about the movie sinking at the box office – it ended up grossing $2.257 billion worldwide.
