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Holy moly, it’s Jurassic World: Dominion. How? Why? These are questions for the powerful analysis of the Outposter (superior online movie beings, that they are) below in the Disqus. For now, let us just look at the facts.
Universal Pictures reportedly spent approximately $658.8 million on the least good / most worst Jurassic World movie back in 2022. This, according to Fortune magazine, makes it the most expensive movie ever made. This edges out the previous winner, which was 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which reportedly cost $638.9 million.
The reason we know this is because, unlike back home, where Hollywood Accounting runs riot to conceal costs, pay-offs, cross-silo loans disguised as charges, and to avoid having to pay out on points, in order to get their hands on all those lovely UK tax credits, studios are required to submit accurate accounts that stand up to external audit.
There is a bra budget joke here somewhere, but I am too enlightened to make it
This leaves an audit trail in the form of a UK tax filing.
The article points to costly COVID measures being in place, as the movie was filmed mid-pandemic. There were the costs of delays to eat as well. Production needed to be ready to go again at a moment’s notice while also paying people to essentially sit around doing nothing.
Soundstages, leased equipment like cameras and lights, talent retainers, fees, and security all needed to be paid for over that period. The cast were also based for 5 months at the 5-star Langley Hotel in Buckinghamshire, not far from the studio. When there, all food and drink, spa treatments, rounds of golf, and so on would also be expensible to the production.
Man, I wish I stayed in $600 a night rooms when I was away on business. You’d better up your game, Hilton Hotels! Don’t you know I am a Diamond Tier Hilton Honors member!?
With a $1 billion take at the box office, Jurassic World would have washed its own face, and streaming, PVOD, and disc sales would have made Universal happy, and the tax rebate would have softened the blow. But it is still a spectacular level of costs for a film that is so ball-achingly sub-optimal.
Jurassic World: Rebirth was a positive bargain, in comparison.
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