
Television had an impact on rising costs in the 1950s and early 1960s as cinema competed with it for audiences, culminating in 1963 with Cleopatra despite being the highest earning film of the year, Cleopatra did not earn back its costs on its original release. Costs rose steadily during the silent era with Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925) setting a record that lasted well into the sound era. Inflation, filming techniques and external market forces affect the economics of film production.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides officially holds the record, with a budget of $378.5 million, while The Hobbit trilogy stands as the most expensive back-to-back film production, with combined costs of $623 million after tax credits. Ben-Hur (1925) was the most expensive film of the silent era, possibly holding the record for over twenty years.ĭue to the secretive nature of Hollywood accounting, it is not clear which film is the most expensive film ever made.
