everything about the movie is high class. The sets are all outfitted with nice furnature, top notch actors in every role and as other people mentioned, they blew up a building!!!

We should concentrate our efforts more on the disturbing $175m Evan Almighty budget than milling over the relative "bargain" of $185m that it took to cover the pyrotechnics, prop design, star power, viral marketing, and shooting locales for The Dark Knight.

I don't think the $185 million figure includes the marketing costs.

Yes, the IMDB numbers don't include what's spent on Marketing. That's why a movie usuually has to make two to three times what it "costs" (budget) to be considered a "hit" - there's more being spent on the film than what's stated as its budget.

Without specificly researching it I can still address Troy to some degree. A runaway production like Troy can make a "bigger" movie with less money. By filming in Europe or N. Africa they use non-union crews, local extras, local labor, etc. which are very cheap. Foreign countries often offer film crews tax exemptions and credits that defer costs as well.

When TDK wasn't filming in a studio in the USA (which means union crews $$$) they were shooting on the streets of Chicago which is $$$.

That's nothing. The Dark Knight and Troy both looked like they cost a lot of money. Quantum of Solace cost $200 milion!

That's approximately $1,886,792.45 per minute!

Thats why also alot of movies are made in Canada since its cheaper to shoot there.

Hell i was surprised Zack and Miri was a little over 25 mil to make (granted Rogan prob got alot), but i'm gonna assume shooting in Pitsburgh wasn't cheap, and they had to make most of the snow.

Del Toro's been filming most of his stuff in Europe lately: Blade 2, Hellboy 1 & 2, Pan's Labyrinth. Apparently a lot of translation/interpretation work required, but things still wind up being MUCH cheaper than a comparative US studio. Guys like him are even starting to drive local special effects/make-up industries as well - training more talent for the future.

I remember reading about the first real Swedish vampire horror flick to come out (Frost Bite) on twitch a few years back - in one of the interviews the director said he had all these local effects companies falling over each other asking him to let them do the special effects and makeup for next to nothing just for the additional experience and international exposure - since they almost never get to do any real work there.

From what I've heard, the salaries were also pretty high:

Bale made $35 million total, part of it was a bonus for the films performance but around 15-20 was upfront.

Oldman made 3-4 million; Freeman made 5 million.

I'd say its safe to assume Ledger made 10-15, Caine made 5-7, Eckhart 5-10, and Nolan himself 10-20.

Anytime you shoot a movie or TV show outside of Los Angeles, it's going to cost a fortune.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't development cost (writing, recruiting etc) can also be very high for this kind of movie?

Also I'm sure with Advertising, Marketing, prints, etc. this cost at LEAST $300 million.
Still it made almost $1 Billion worldwide and will make hundreds of millions more on DVD and broadcast TV sales. Even with profit participation I'm sure this will end up making at least $800 million in profit for WB.

185 mio's well spent, if you ask me.

= J

I don't think Hollywood can count below Million.

that's not true. Tons of TV shows/movies started filming in Vancouver because it was cheaper than LA.

Your right. I forgot the dollar is worth slightly more in Canada and also the studios get tax breaks from filming there.

Not sure about Chicago though where Dark Knight was filmed if WB got a tax break.

I think the difference is "outside LA" stateside vs. "outside LA" international.

I could see how it cost 185 mil to make. The cast, the crew, the on-location shooting(especially in Hong Kong), the IMAX cameras, the CGI, the Batpod/truck chase scene, the extras(check out the evacuation scene with the ferries as well as the funeral for the Commissioner), blowing up several buildings, not to mention it was a fairly lengthy shoot. Those expenses add up quickly.

I remember reading somewhere that Crapman & Robin cost around 230 mil to make(WB would never admit to this, of course). And that was in 1997 dollars.

Dark Knight was every dollar well spent. It's a classic by all means.

Batman & Robin reportedly cost $125 million, although, when you factor in the $40 million combined for the 3 leads (Arnold, Clooney, and Uma) plus probably another $5-10 mil spread between the other actors (Silverstone, O'Donnell, Gough, Fox, etc.), you have to question how they could have afforded Schumacher and the production design on just $75 million. Plus, they filmed in Los Angeles studios which can be pricey as well.

I've seen the end result...I don't question it at all.

You see, I'm a guy of simple taste. I enjoy rubber, and latex, and nipples! And do you know what they all have in common? They're cheap.

Hell I'm still trying to figure out how the hell Wall-E cost $180 Mil!