What ever happened to the big budget horror movies? Not so long ago, film studios would have happily thrown a whole bunch of cash at a film in order to to make a great film. But with low budget films such as Annabelle grossing $206 million on a budget of $6.5, it becomes obvious that the small budget, low risk has become a much more reliable way of generating cash. And that’s what it’s all about, money. This Hollywood cash grab has forced out the maturity of the horror genre, leaving us with water downed horror that neither fulfills or challenges us. However once in awhile, a studio takes a chance on a project and the results are the films below. The top five most expensive horror films every made!

 

5. Hollow Man (2000) – $95 Million

A technical shoot and large amount of visual effects saw the budget of Paul Verhoeven’s Hollow man almost reach $100 million. Around $50 million of the film’s $95 million budget was spent on 560 visual effects shots, which was mostly adding the invisibility effect for Kevin Bacons character Scientist Sebastian Caine. The film was also shot in chronological order, something generally frowned upon due to the extra expense and time needed. However this was done mainly because the laboratory set would be blown up near the end of the film. This explosive shoot was captured by 14 cameras at various angles. The films was a success making $191 million at the box office worldwide.

 

4. What Lies Beneath (2000) – $100 Million

What Lies Beneath cost $100 million, as the wasteful production did some crazy spending. Apart from Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer taking a nice bite out of the budget, the technically complex shoot made 5 duplicates of a single set, across different US States, so, one would assume, that the cast and crew did not have to travel too far. Though i still can’t understand why you would not have just filmed everything on the one set rather then spreading it out? The film made $291 Million worldwide.

 

3. Prometheus (2012) – $130 Million

Directed by Ridley Scott, Prometheus started life as a sequel to scott’s horror masterpiece Alien. However, the film instead became something set in the same universe, but not directly connected to the aliens film. This change of direction, and confusing story left many cinema goers scratching thier heads. Confused and over elaborate, it was very much a film that used style over content. Scott had initially requested a whooping $250 million budget, also requesting an adult rating, but but Fox was reluctant to invest this amount and wanted a lower age-rating. An all star cast, over 1,300 digital effect shots and a large marketing campaign saw the project reach £130 million. Despite very mixed reviews, it did manage to make $400 million at the box office worldwide, making this expensive and somewhat overly elaborate film, a big money maker!

 

2. I Am Legend (2007) – $150 Million

The postapocalyptic science-fiction horror began developing in 1994, but it wasn’t until 2006 that filming begun filming. The lavish production included a $5 million scene shot at the Brooklyn Bridge. At one point Arnold Schwarzenegger was cast as Robert Neville, with Michael Bay and Guillermo del Toro both attached to direct. One of the major increases in budget came from director Francis Lawrence request to swap out actors for CGI creations, for the films “Darkseekers” zombies. The film sees virologist Neville looking to find a cure for the plague that has wiped out the planet. The film was hugely successful, pulling in $585 Million worldwide.

 

1. The Wolfman (2010) – $150 Million

The Wolfman is a remake of the 1941 film of the same name. It was released to a negative reception, where the films editing, directing and acting was heavily criticised. Set in the Victorian era, the story of man cursed to transform in a werewolf, failed to make back its budget from the box office. Despite it’s large budget and ensemble cast, the film just did not mesh well with audiences, lacking any suspense or scares. Shot in 2008, the troubled shoot and post production bloated the original budget to $150 million and the film was not released until 2010. It only took $140 Million world wide.

It’s good to know that there are still film companies willing to invest in the genre. But with an unstable global economy and low budget films attracting cinema goers, you’ll find that it might be some time before we see another big budget horror flick!