The Biggest Budget Films
The global film industry has continued to recover after a disruptive period, with many high-budget films scaling up production as COVID-19 restrictions relax. The UK film industry has also made a similar recovery, with The Guardian reporting the UK film and TV industry bounced back from COVID with a record £5.6bn spend.
We take a look at some of the high-budget movies produced (at least partially) in the UK this year, that contributed to this new record and how they were received around the world.
5. Death on the Nile
Budget (IMDB): £74,000,000 / $90,000,000 (estimated)
Box Office Earnings (Box Office Mojo – Worldwide): £113,542,098 / $137,307,235
A remake of the original 1978 film, Death on the Nile is based on the 1937 novel by Agatha Christie. In this film, Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot is attending a wedding in Egypt aboard a riverboat but soon discovers that not all is as it seems. Tensions between the guests erupt in a violent murder, and it’s up to Poirot to solve the case.
Reception
Death on the Nile features a star-studded cast, renowned director Kenneth Branagh, and a solid base from which to tell a compelling murder mystery. However, despite all of this, it seems that it didn’t quite hit home with cinema-goers. Critics and viewers who saw the film generally viewed it in a positive light, but it failed to garner enough attention to boost its box office earnings. This may have been because of changes in audience habits brought on by the pandemic, as the previous film managed to earn an impressive £291,728,950 ($352,789,811) around the globe.
4. The King’s Man
Budget (Collider): £82,690,000 / $100,000,000
Box Office Earnings (Box Office Mojo – Worldwide): £152,248,679 / $125,897,478
The King’s Man is the latest in the Kingsman series of films. This prequel tells the origins of the Kingsman, the secret service that protects the world from the deadliest of villains.
Reception
The first film, Kingsman: The Secret Service, was an unexpected box office hit that garnered praise from regular movie-goers and film critics alike. This spy thriller comedy earned £364 million ($441 million) off a budget of £66.15 million ($80 million), making it a financial success for director Matthew Vaughn. The second film, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, wasn’t as positively received but did reasonably well at the box office, earning around £339,04 million ($410 million). Unfortunately for The King’s Man, it seems to have missed the mark with most critics and failed to draw fans of the first two films into the cinemas. It flopped, with box office takings just short £104.19 million ($126 million) vs an estimated budget of £82.69 million ($100 million).
3. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
Budget (IMDB): £165,000,000 / $200,000,000 (estimated)
Box Office Earnings (Box Office Mojo – Worldwide): £335,036,010 / $405,161,334
In the third film in the Harry Potter spin-off, Fantastic Beasts, Dumbledore and his rag-tag team must stop Grindelwald from taking control of the wizarding world and starting a war with the non-magical world.
Reception
The Fantastic Beasts series has not quite had the same impact as the Harry Potter books and films. While it was generally liked by fans who saw the film and received positive reviews by audiences on both IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes, critics were a little less forgiving. This was reflected in the box office numbers as well, with the third film dropping well below the £673.11 million ($814 million) the first film made.
2. The Batman
Budget (IMDB): £165,000,000 / $200,000,000 (estimated)
Box Office Earnings (Box Office Mojo – Worldwide): £637,419,839 / $770,836,163
The latest incarnation of DC’s iconic caped crusader, The Batman, is another retelling of the story of the dark knight. In The Batman, the mayor of Gotham is murdered, and a riddle is left for Batman. The Gotham City Police Department joins forces with the costumed vigilante to unravel the mystery and stop the killer, the Riddler, from murdering anyone else.
Reception
Despite early reservations around Twilight star Robert Pattinson taking on the character, it seems the world can’t get enough of his Batman. Both critics and fans have loved the latest adventure of this brooding hero, with the film achieving a score of 7.9/10 on IMDB, as well as 85% on the critics’ Tomatometer and 87% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes. Will we see Pattinson’s Batman cross paths with Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker? Only time will tell, but comic book fans have a lot to look forward to.
1. No Time to Die
Budget (IMDB): £206,000,000 / $250,000,000 (estimated)
Box Office Earnings (Box Office Mojo – Worldwide): £640,162,604 / $774,153,007
In No Time to Die, Bond has retired and is enjoying the quiet life. However, when an experimental weapon is stolen and the world is once again under threat, he returns to active duty to do what he does best.
Reception
No Time to Die is the 25th film in the James Bond franchise and the most expensive movie on this list, with an estimated budget of £206 million ($250 million). This may have been due to the film’s major delays, including a change in directors and the COVID-19 pandemic, both of which pushed back its production and release by many months. However, despite the setbacks this film faced, fans were still eager to enjoy the last 007 adventure featuring Daniel Craig. It was well received by both critics and fans and went on to become the third highest-grossing film ever in the UK, earning a total of £96.7 million at the local box office. This was behind another James Bond film, Skyfall, in second place, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens in the top spot. It was also one of the year's highest-grossing movies, with its box office earnings of £640 million ($774 million).
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