The Budget for My Big-Budget Movie

Two A-list celebrities willing to pretend that they’re real-life friends: $40 million
Intro animations for 11 different production companies: $650,000 each
Physics accuracy consultant with at least one Nobel Prize: $120,000
Boat chase scene where the characters drive vertically up a waterfall: $5.1 million
Ping-pong balls: 4 for $7.99 (x50)
Auto-stabilizing camera gimbal: $153,000
Authentic, post-production camera shake: $268,000
Real-life, exploding bombs officially logged as “practical”: $1.2 million
Water (for reference): $0.89/gal
Water (digital): $9,132/gal
Extras to play freedom fighters seeking basic rights (non-union): $150/each
Untouched landscape (for reference): $200,000 per acre
On-location studio: $2,000 per sq ft
Hans Zimmer (theremin incl.): $3.5 million
The rights to ruin all associations with The Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black”: $1.13 million
Stan Lee cameo: $2.1 million
Stan Lee reinterment: $340,000
Cultural folk tales about displacement and diaspora in the public domain: $0
Copyright lawyers: $25,000/hr
Breakthrough CGI that allows white actors to play indigenous people: $21 million
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