The Most Expensive Movie Scenes Ever Filmed

whether emptying the streets of Times Square wrecking state-of-the-art sports cars for fun or blowing up real military ships the movies on this list have invested heavily in solitary scenes lasting mere minutes these sequences are the most expensive movie scenes ever filmed Vanilla Sky sets the tone of surreal reality question and confusion from the opening scene the perfectly groomed gray hair plucking playboy millionaire David Ames wakes as Radiohead's everything in its right place aptly Lyra sizes his life immaculate flawless perfected yet as David drives his vintage Ferrari through the streets of New York the first cracks in this illusion appear he drives to Times Square the crossroads of the world with approximately 330,000 daily passers-by it's completely empty not even the faintest hint of the usual hustle and bustle David wakes abruptly it was all a dream a false awakening interpreted by his therapist as a metaphor well I suppose the empty Street meant loneliness you're a shrink you got to do better than that at only 30 seconds of screen time the scene provides a fundamental function in the narrative questioning the nature of reality and our relationship to dreams surprisingly no CGI was used instead director Cameron Crowe struck a deal with the NYPD to close off the area between 5:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. on a Sunday in November 2000 the result was a spectacular sequence with a spectacular price tag over 1 million dollars for 30 seconds of footage was it worth it absolutely combining Cruz's enigmatic star power with the desolate backdrop helps create a poignant scene lacking in the 1997 spanish-language original open your eyes in I am Legend Will Smith roams the post-apocalyptic streets of New York City as dr. Robert Neville of I Rolla gist attempting to find a cure for the zombie producing Crippen virus to create the feeling of desperate isolation the film like Vanilla Sky has empty streets to match Warner Brothers empty wallets however a substantial chunk of its 150 million dollar budget was allocated to a much more populated scene capturing Neville's tragic separation from his wife and child in flashbacks the audience sees that New York City was evacuated and placed under quarantine during the outbreak in a race against time nevels family boards a helicopter to escape then comes a breathtaking moment of tragedy the military bombs the Brooklyn Bridge amidst the chaos the blazing bridge collapses into the water below and nevels family tragically dies in the ensuing accident a fair share of digital magic was used to capture the missiles impact still the surrounding evacuation was shot on location across six nights requiring the cooperation of 1,000 extras 14 different government agencies and expansive lighting rig and a crew of 250 increased bureaucracy post 9/11 made acquiring the green light on the project a task that cost a cool five million dollars think of James Bond and what's the first thing that comes to mind aside from a cat stroking evil genius cool gadgets and Bond girls the answer is probably luxurious cars after all what would double-oh-seven be without an Aston Martin db5 for company a car featured in seven different installments snazzy automobiles are largely part of the series mythology and Spectre continued that tradition by placing Daniel Craig in the front seat of the stylish aston martin db10 a car produced exclusively for the 2015 film illustrative of the multi-millions hollywood has to play with 32 million dollars of spectres rumored 300 million to three hundred and fifty million dollar budget was spent destroying cars the biggest expenditure came from totaling seven of the ten after mentioned DB tens a fact that will no doubt cause car enthusiasts to shed a tear chief stunt coordinator Gary Powell told the Daily Mail in Rome we wrecked millions of pounds worth the db10 sped through the narrow streets of the Vatican at top speeds of 110 miles per hour in a cat-and-mouse chase with a henchman in a Jaguar CX 75 a set amount for this singular scene hasn't been confirmed but the number of destroyed DB tens were quote shot one entire night for four seconds of film making its cost per footage ratio astronomically high smashing DB tends to smithereens is frugal when compared to Bryan Singer's Superman Returns resurrecting kal-el on nearly two decades after Superman for the quest for peace one particular scene depicted Superman returning to Krypton abstract atmospheric and visually striking the CGI heavy sequence is intriguing channeling elements of thoughtful slow-paced sci-fi however that tone was such a stark contrast to the rest of the film a fun superhero movie that Warner Brothers chose to cut it out of the final cut it was a bold decision not least from a financial perspective creating Superman's homeworld cost an estimated 10 million dollars making it one of the most expensive scenes in history and most likely the costliest deleted scene ever Superman Returns earned favorable reviews although it failed to capture the imagination of audiences illustrated by an underwhelming worldwide box office of 391 million dollars maybe that Krypton scene would have helped four years after neo swallowed the red pill and unveiled the true nature of reality in the Matrix the philosophical cyberpunk sensation returned in 2003 with the second installment in the trilogy this time the Wachowskis had over doubled a budget which it's safe to say they spent wisely ignoring the adage don't play with traffic the duo rejected digital effects and instead constructed a fake freeway at a decommissioned Naval Base in Alameda California you always told me to stay off the freeway that's true stretching a mile-and-a-half the set was the backdrop for reloaded white-knuckle chase between Morpheus Trinity the twins and a host of agents surprisingly the Wachowskis also opted for real-life stunts Trinity actress Carrie and moss who overcame a quote major fear of motorcycle shooting the scene told IGN they needed to have the best stunt people in the world it was dangerous you could really feel that every day you went out there the final result is 20 minutes of mind-blowing physics defying carnage and one of the most memorable car chases in cinematic history as for the total cost that had the blue pill treatment never to be revealed publicly however the freeway alone cost two point five million dollars throw in over 100 destroyed cars practical effects and CGI and a significant percentage of the 150 million dollar budget was likely spent on this single sequence the Second World War was one of the deadliest conflicts in history with casualties estimated to be over 56 million one of the most bone-chilling unfathomably brutal battles the d-day landing was also the largest seaborne invasion in history those who weren't there will never truly know what it was like but Steven Spielberg's acclaimed portrayal in 1998 Saving Private Ryan offers some insight most notable is its depiction of the Allies arrival on Omaha Beach a tense sequence Empire magazine ranked as the quote greatest battle in cinema an unforgettable opening 25 minutes to pick Tom Hanks captain Miller facing impossible odds marching through blood-soaked sand outmaneuvering explosions and dodging bullets leading the way for the Allies eventual victory at the German occupied shore its filmmaking at its finest realistic immersive heartbreaking and it earned Spielberg the Oscar for Best Director shot over the course of four weeks a cast of 750 captured the horror of that fateful day on June 6 1944 unable to shoot at Omaha Beach Spielberg shot on location on the east coast of Ireland at cura close strand with minimal direction in the original script most shots were quote spur-of-the-moment and unplanned ahead of time Spielberg told DGA quarterly of the approach it helped make things a little more chaotic and unpredictable considering the magnitude of the scene and its lasting cultural impact it's 12 million dollar budget might have been a good deal Michael Bay is renowned four larger-than-life spectacles brimming with huge explosions and bombtastic set-pieces epitomized by his live-action Transformers franchise clearly there's a thirst for big robots that turn into things with the series earning a total worldwide box office of four point four eight billion dollars the last night was the most poorly reviewed in the series receiving a measly 15% on Rotten Tomatoes but that wasn't due to a lack of investment its budget was a whopping 217 million dollars with a large chunk of that spent on location for one particular scene as previous transformers installment age of extinction concluded in a junkyard producers were keen to maintain continuity Phoenix film commissioner Phil Brad stock wryly remarked to phoenix Business Journal the movies art director was probably just doing a google image search for a junkyard and they came across this junkyard just north of Deer Valley Airport Arizona's authorities won't be complaining about the fortuitous Google Image Search though it led to a hefty investment in the area in a rare detailed insight Brad stock revealed that over the 10 day shoot producers hired 40 locals to work behind the scenes as well as 50 local vendors and 3,000 cumulative Hotel nights two months on location equated to an investment of fifteen million dollars before factoring in CGI and other cost increasing factors Marlon Brando was widely regarded as one of the finest actors of his generation if not any generation when he won his second Academy Award for his captivating portrayal of Don Corleone in 1972 s The Godfather that film was also a blockbuster and if the producers of the first big-budget Superman movie wanted to secure the great Brando to play Superman's father jor-el they were certainly going to have to dig deep and pay up I'm gonna make him an awfully go with you Brando ultimately appears in 1978 Superman the movie for about ten minutes out of the film's 143 minute running time and yet he received top billing over both Academy Award winner Gene Hackman who played Lex Luthor and relative newcomer Christopher Reeve who actually portrayed the lead character in addition to an appearance fee of 3.7 million dollars Brando was also contractually obligated to take home 12% of the film's profits the former Godfather's take was 19 million dollars in 2020 dollars that's a seventy-five million dollars and this doesn't even count the expensive-looking Krypton sets that filmmakers had to build for Brando's brief scenes it's almost impossible to imagine the magnitude of the production behind Ben Hur the 1959 adaptation of Lew Wallace's novel and remake of the 1925 silent film of the same name is memorable for its extravagance a stunning 9 minute chariot race is the crux of Wallace's story and William Wyler's feature gravitates around the same centerpiece enduring acclaim is a deserving accomplishment following five years of preparation the production was tireless and demanding including 300 sets covering 140 acres 9 sound stages and thousands of extras set at Cinecitta Studios in Italy it was the largest film set of its era the arena alone set in the fictional ancient city Antioch was built by a construction team of 750 workers created to capture the race between Judah ben-hur and masala shot over 10 weeks the singular scene cost four million dollars in today's money that's over thirty four million dollars or around three point seven million dollars for each minute of footage metro-goldwyn-mayer wanted the experience to lure audiences into theaters though and it worked to this day Ben Hur is one of the highest-grossing films ever proving sometimes that hefty investments pay off in 2001 director Michael Bay at the time best known for Armageddon took his penchant for big explosions and dazzling effects shots and applied them to a story set against the backdrop of actual historical events the result Pearl Harbor an epic action movie that takes place primarily during events leading up to the 1941 Japanese military bombing of the US base in Hawaii they went all out to realistically and graphically depict the bombing of Pearl Harbor one of the most famous and destructive acts in American history and this is no computer-generated mayhem and bloodshed they used practical effects and a lot of them the crew employed the use of 700 sticks of dynamite and 4,000 gallons of gasoline to properly blow up six inactive ships from the Navy it took around a month to set everything up and the director certainly didn't want to miss anything so he set up 12 cameras to film it all in all this one scene in Pearl Harbor cost approximate five point five million 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Channel: Looper

Views: 1,249,515

Rating: 4.9056349 out of 5

Keywords: looper, looper movies, movies, films, movie scenes, film scenes, expenisve movies scenes, expensive film scenes, most expensive movie scenes, most expensive film scenes, vanilla sky new york scene, i am legend scene, spectre car chase, spectre scene, superman returns scene, matrix reloaded car chase, matrix reloaded car scene, saving private ryan normandy, saving private ryan normandy scene, ben-hur chariot scene, ben hur chariot scene, pearl harbor scene

Id: gIzbfbOf91U

Length: 12min 43sec (763 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 06 2020