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Why spend so much money? Certain movies that are actually considered blockbusters can be made for a fraction of the cost that an actual blockbuster is made for. Once Upon a Time in Mexico was made for 32 million and looked just like any other blockbuster. It's really a skill that a production company must have to make a movie for so little money, make it well, and make the movie gross profit. Too much money goes into little things like luxuries for the actors and crewman. Hotel bills, food, and the "little" things add up and end up costing more than a little bit of money. .
Conserving money forces the film makers to make faster decisions, and often-smarter ones. This usually ends up in a tighter film with quality entertainment. The movie ends up not spending as much, making more, and getting more money to make other movies or money for charity. Titanic ended up spending more than 200 million and made over 1 billion dollars worldwide. A lot of the profit was put to good use, but it shouldn't take a profit of over a billion for that to happen. .
The biggest budget to date without inflation is Spiderman 2, due out this July. It has a budget of 200 million. Over 50 years ago Cleopatra had an inflated budget of over 300 million. It flopped. The excess of money these movies waste or make could feed starving countries for a year. Worldwide gross income could reach over 500 million. When there is too much money to be spent, there are often greedy decisions that lack creativity. If this were any other movie, this budget would be a great risk. Movies need to stay at modest budgets and keep skill at the top of the producers list. Before Dungeons and Dragons was clobbered by How the Grinch Stole Christmas, industry analysts were asking if New Line Cinema isn't spending too much money in the wrong places. .
In the year 2000 Dungeons and Dragons bombed at the box office and didn't have the results New Line hoped for.
