Is it possible that a movie about blue cat-like alien things is the most expensive movie ever made?  Well, the movie in question, Avatar, has a stated production budget of $237 million, which is quite a lot even when compared to other budget-busting blockbusters.  However, that’s not the  most expensive movie.  But when you start adding marketing costs, Avatar’s parent company, 20th Century Fox, has spent at least $500 million dollars on the movie, and the amount is only going up as the trailer starts to move throughout the country.

Now, I know what you’re thinking.  “$500 million on a movie?  Fox must be nuts!  James Cameron must be nuts!  This whole thing is nuts!”

And I agree, it is nuts, but let’s remember just who James Cameron is.   He’s the guy who took an insanely expensive $200 million picture about a sinking boat and turned it into $1.8 BILLION DOLLARS.  When you combine that with the fact that a lot of the cost of marketing the movie is getting deferred to other arms of 20th Century Fox (Fox TV, MySpace, etc.), then it’s not quite as bad as it looks on paper.

Is this movie a huge, expensive gamble?  Oh yeah, no doubt about it.  But the last movie I remember people talking about the high production cost was Titanic, and we see how that worked out.  If anyone can make a half-a-billion-dollar movie turn a profit, it’s Mr. Terminator.  He’s got that magic touch.

Image:  io9

Tags: most expensive movie ever made, 0 million dollar movie, Avatar, James Cameron, 20th Century Fox, expensive movies, Hollywood

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