List of most expensive films

It is not clear which film is the most expensive ever made, due to the secretive nature of Hollywood accounting. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker holds the official record with a net budget of $490 million. The production of the third and fourth Avengers films—Infinity War and Endgame—stands as the most expensive back-to-back film production, with a cost of over $1 billion.

Inflation, filming techniques, and external market forces affect the cost of film production. Costs rose steadily during the silent era; 1925's Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ set a record that lasted well into the sound era. Television had an impact on rising costs in the 1950s and early 1960s as cinema competed with it for audiences; 1963's highest-earning film, Cleopatra, did not recoup its costs on its original release. The 1990s saw two thresholds crossed: 1994's True Lies cost $100 million and 1997's Titanic cost $200 million, both directed by James Cameron. The 21st century has so far seen the $300 million and $400 million thresholds crossed and it has become normal for a tent-pole feature from a major film studio to cost over $200 million, and an increasing number of films now cost more than $300 million.