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SALT LAKE CITY — Making a successful movie is no easy task. Though audiences and critics laud films with elaborate visual effects, stunning views and star-studded casts, all of those elements cost millions of dollars.
And movies are only getting more expensive. Back in 1991, "Terminator 2" garnered buzz by becoming the most expensive film ever produced, costing $178 million (inflation-adjusted). The following installment in 2003, "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," cost over $250 million to produce (inflation-adjusted) — and it doesn't even crack the current top 10 most expensive films.
Using data from IMDb, PrettyFamous ranked the most costly movies ever made by their estimated inflation-adjusted budgets. The entertainment data site, part of the Graphiq network, used IMDb's estimated production budgets and then used Consumer Price Index data to adjust the values for inflation. PrettyFamous ranked the movies by estimated budget and used profit values to break ties.
#12. The Dark Knight Rises
Inflation-adjusted budget: $259,296,846
Profit: $203,289,154
Inflation-adjusted budget: $259,296,846
Profit: $384,088,154
Inflation-adjusted budget: $263,065,504
Profit: $577,068,496
Inflation-adjusted budget: $264,662,864
Loss: $10,673,864
Inflation-adjusted budget: $265,772,321
Profit: $231,823,679
Inflation-adjusted budget: $273,445,538
Loss: $136,261,538
Inflation-adjusted budget: $273,506,313
Loss: $198,091,013
Inflation-adjusted budget: $277,495,257
Profit: $56,077,743
Inflation-adjusted budget: $283,937,704
Loss: $65,684,704
Inflation-adjusted budget: $296,312,643
Profit: $88,432,357
Inflation-adjusted budget: $296,737,695
Profit: $675,778,305
Inflation-adjusted budget: $344,549,585
Profit: $9,183,415