‘The Force Awakens’ Becomes The Most Expensive Movie Ever Made

[Hedrox]

A interesting bit of info from last month that kinda went under the radar. You can read the Forbes article here, but basically Disney spent a hell of a lot more on making it than what was officially reported: $533.2 million(!) vs the initial $200 million.

Movie budgets are usually a closely-guarded secret as studios tend to absorb the cost of individual pictures in their overall expenses. However, the costs of movies made in the UK are consolidated in single companies which file annual financial statements showing the cash reimbursement, headcount, salaries, total expenses and more.

The production companies have code names so that they don’t raise attention when filing for permits to shoot off-site. The Disney subsidiary behind The Force Awakens is named Foodles Production after the cafe next to the San Rafael California headquarters of Kerner Optical, the original practical effects division of Lucasfilm's Industrial Light & Magic VFX firm.

A condition of receiving the cash reimbursement is that the companies must be responsible for everything from pre-production to delivery of the movie and paying for services relating to the finished film. It one of the reasons why Foodles is still booking costs on its financial statements eight years after The Force Awakens was released.

Another reason is that the companies often file the financial statements around a year after the period they cover. This is why the latest results for Foodles were filed last month and cover the year to December 31, 2021. During that time the company spent $3.1 million (£2.6 million) bringing the total spent on The Force Awakens to a massive $533.2 million which is 74% more than the media had estimated.

Wikipedia also updated their list of "Most expensive productions":

[BluBonnet]

That Disney overhead....

[Cremildo]

I'll be damned

[xbs2034]

Not really clear if that includes marketing, which could easily be $150 million+ on a movie like this over time. But also it’s well known from both journalist reports, and tax document leaks, that the budgets of tentpole movies are often way higher than the estimates studios give to the press.

[stvn1974]

Disney should have thrown another $200 million at The Last Jedi and The Rise Of Skywalker and gotten a screenwriter.

[Gacivory]

What a waste of money on those Pirates movies! Oof!

[Mandalorian]

Originally Posted by Gacivory

What a waste of money on those Pirates movies! Oof!

I didn't like the sequels, but I appreciate that they exist purely for Verbinski getting to overindulge.

[JamesKurtovich]

Followed by the film that derailed the entire IP. Lol

[NARMAK]

I think people are still long overdue in understanding how creative "Hollywood Accounting" can be used by these huge corporations to minimise taxes and the biggest trick is to make things look as expensive as possible to reduce profits and by extension taxes.

It's 90% or more of the time smoke and mirrors about how many movies are truly "losses" these days.

[Jay H.]

It wasn't my money.

[NARMAK]

Originally Posted by Jay H.

It wasn't my money.

But looking on the internet, you'd think it was the way fanatics, i mean fans act about these stupid figures. Only the bean counters who really know what's going on care.

[Shane Rollins]

Only Disney could drop over half a billion on one movie and give zero Fs about it. It just isn’t Walt’s company anymore.

[Warm Gun]

Originally Posted by stvn1974

Disney should have thrown another $200 million at The Last Jedi and The Rise Of Skywalker and gotten a screenwriter.

Implying Force Awakens had a good script. That trilogy was screwed from day 1.

[DrWally]

Originally Posted by stvn1974

Disney should have thrown another $200 million at The Last Jedi and The Rise Of Skywalker and gotten a screenwriter.

This is adolescent-level recreational posturing.

Chris Terrio - 1 x Oscars for screenwriting, 1 x WGA Award for screenwriting, 1 x entries on the American Film Institute's list of the best screenplays of the century. 13 other career honours for screenwriting.

Rian Johnson - 2 x Oscar nominations for screenwriting. 1 x entries on the American Film Institute's list of the best screenplays of the century. 19 other career honours for screenwriting.

'Disney should have thrown another $200 million at The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker and gotten a screenwriter'.

I love this place.

[mwynn]

Originally Posted by JamesKurtovich

Followed by the film that derailed the entire IP. Lol

Yep, Star Wars just vanished after Rise of Skywalker.

[Moviefan2k4]

Originally Posted by NARMAK

I think people are still long overdue in understanding how creative "Hollywood Accounting" can be used by these huge corporations to minimise taxes and the biggest trick is to make things look as expensive as possible to reduce profits and by extension taxes.

It's 90% or more of the time smoke and mirrors about how many movies are truly "losses" these days.

Pretty much. I'm reminded of how Hollywood treated Winston Groom, over his royalties from Forrest Gump. He must've gotten some truly bad advice, because he accepted net points instead of gross, and the studio never paid him anything. When the time came for them to shoot the second book, he refused their offer, saying he couldn't commit to "another failure".

[s2mikey]

Originally Posted by stvn1974

Disney should have thrown another $200 million at The Last Jedi and The Rise Of Skywalker and gotten a screenwriter.

Originally Posted by DrWally

This is adolescent-level recreational posturing.

Chris Terrio - 1 x Oscars for screenwriting, 1 x WGA Award for screenwriting, 1 x entries on the American Film Institute's list of the best screenplays of the century. 13 other career honours for screenwriting.

Rian Johnson - 2 x Oscar nominations for screenwriting. 1 x entries on the American Film Institute's list of the best screenplays of the century. 19 other career honours for screenwriting.

'Disney should have thrown another $200 million at The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker and gotten a screenwriter'.

I love this place.

[Talal86]

Disney should have thrown another $200 million at The Last Jedi and The Rise Of Skywalker and gotten a screenwriter.

[spanky87]

So Disney spent all that money just to remake A New Hope, am I right?

[Mikezilla3k]

Originally Posted by Gacivory

What a waste of money on those Pirates movies! Oof!

Every cent was well-spent on AWE man.