Producing a film is a risky business, with every part of the production from start to finish requiring huge expenses to be incurred – without knowing whether the film will be successful or not.
Even so, this does not stop the world’s big studios from investing millions of ringgit because they know based on their experience, the profits that can be made can be multiplied.
As of 2019, these five films have been crowned as the highest-grossing films in Hollywood film history.
1. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
If highlighted again, the majority of the films on this list are produced by Disney – proving the financial strength of the giant company in investing and producing products of high quality and the best in every way. Surely many did not expect ‘On Stranger Tides’ to hold the throne as the most expensive film to produce so far with a cost of $379 million dollars.
Released in 2011 as a sequel to ‘At World’s End,’ the famous actor Johnny Depp is said to have been paid as much as $55 million dollars to return to play the legendary character of Captain Jack Sparrow which is now synonymous with him. The risk taken with the production cost was very large, however, it paid off after On Stranger Tides managed to break the $1 billion collection limit.
2. Avengers Age of Ultron
The sequel to the first Avengers film, Age of Ultron is said to be one of the weakest films in Marvel’s cinematic series due to its rather messy storyline. Even so, Age of Ultron remains one of the best-selling blockbuster films with a gross of $1.5 billion compared to a production cost of $365 million.
Watch the Avengers Age of Ultron Trailer
Despite being one of the forgotten films among other films, Age of Ultron still features some important scenes such as the creation of the synthetic man Vision and is responsible for bringing the character of Thanos, who will bring great disaster to the world for the first time on the silver screen.
3. Avengers Infinity War
One of the best films released from the Marvel comic world series so far, Avengers Infinity War successfully combines dozens of famous actors in one film. What’s more impressive, each character is successfully given enough time to act.
Made at a cost of $316 million dollars, the film’s gross to date is estimated to exceed $2 billion dollars, making it one of the most profitable film franchises in the film industry today.
Watch Avengers Infinity War
4. Justice League & Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End
Both of these films were produced with a budget of $300 million dollars, putting them both side by side. However, the film Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End starring Johnny Depp far surpassed the long-awaited Justice League film, with the pirate film successfully collecting $963 million dollars more than 3 times its production cost.
Watch the Justice League & Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End 2007 Trailer
‘Justice League’, which faced various problems during production and had to undergo a change of director, managed to collect $657 million dollars but received a negative reaction from film fans due to the weakness of the narration contained in the film.
Considered to be the beginning of a cinematic series for DC comic superheroes, ‘Justice League’ is seen as failing to compete with Marvel’s cinematic series and is reportedly being reworked, to be more detailed and refine its very obvious weaknesses.
5. Solo – A Star Wars Story
Released when the majority of Star Wars fans wanted a film featuring another of their favorite characters, Obi-Wan Kenobi, ‘Solo: A Staw Wars Story’ became the second film in the Star Wars side story series produced by Disney.
Showcasing the story of how the popular character Han Solo started his career as a pilot and became involved in saving the galaxy with Luke and Leia Skywalker – the film failed at the cinema. Having a budget of $275 million dollars, ‘Solo’ needs to reach at least $500 million to recoup the entire cost.
Unfortunately, the fifth most expensive film in the history of the Hollywood film industry only managed to gross under $400 million, although this film is actually very good and manages to bring the story of Han Solo very effectively.