4. Tangled (2010)
Director: Nathan Greno, Byron Howard
Cost of production: $260 million USD
Tangled was so expensive mainly because of how long it took to get the story right. It took about ten years of multiple aborted attempts at the movie, each of which got pretty far in before they scrapped everything and started again. Much of the budget included redesigning versions of previously-attempted flick Rapunzel, dating back to 2000, that were never produced. What’s more, extensive research was done to develop the animation process that allowed the CGI to evoke some of the qualities of traditional hand-drawn Disney characters – animating all of that blonde hair must’ve been quite the ordeal.
What else could you buy for that: 2,810,000,000 crayons for $0.10 USD each.
3. John Carter (2012)
Director: Andrew Stanton
Cost of production: $263 million USD
The cost of John Carter was – with no better way to say it – ridiculous. It left Disney somewhere around $200 million out of pocket, making it the company’s biggest flop of all time. The personal cost of the film also wasn’t so small. Rich Ross – the former chairman of Walt Disney Studios – decided to resign just a month after the movie was released, while Disney lost the rights to produce the rest of Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc’s back catalogue after refusing to produce any John Carter sequels (Disney probably had the right idea on that one…).
What else could you buy for that: 16,941,176 leather loincloths at $17 USD a shred.