Red One
With a walloping $ 250 million budget , Dwayne Johnson’sRed Oneis the most expensive Christmas movie ever made , but plenty of other holiday classic have cost a pretty penny , too . Some of the most darling Christmas film of all time have been produced for a comparatively slim budget . Home Alone , Gremlins , andThe Santa Clauseall be less than $ 25 million to make . ElfandDie Hardcost a piffling more to produce , because they demand a stack of special effects , but they would still barely coverRed One ’s catering budget .
But some stories be a mickle of money to state . Bringing Santa and his fly reindeer to life on - screen does n’t number cheap . The move - gaining control animation want to make Robert Zemeckis’A Christmas CarolandThe Polar Expresstook X of jillion of dollar mark to pull off . The whizz - studded stamp of movies likeThe HolidayandDaddy ’s habitation 2drove up the price of production . No other Christmas movie has be quite as much to acquire asRed One , but a few others have come confining .
10Daddy’s Home 2
$69 Million
AfterThe Other Guysduo Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg were reunite forDaddy ’s Home , it end up being an even big boxwood office success than their previous collaboration . It did n’t take long for Paramount to commission a continuation , andDaddy ’s plate 2was in dramatic art just two age after its predecessor . The firstDaddy ’s Homehad one Christmas - themed scene , with the two competing founder throwing an early Christmas for their kid , butDaddy ’s Home 2is a full - blown Christmas motion-picture show .
The sequel introduced the forefather of the fathers ; Ferrell ’s dad was played by John Lithgow and Wahlberg ’s dada was played by Mel Gibson . This star - stud ensemble ensured that the sequel was a laughter rioting , but it also ensured that it needed a bigger budget than the first film . Daddy ’s Home 2cost $ 69 million to produce ( viaBox Office Mojo ) .
9Die Hard 2
$70 Million
It ’s often said that for a movie to be believe successful , it has to gross around 2.5 times its budget . ButDie Hardwas so successful that its subsequence scored a budget of 2.5 times its budget . conk Hard 2cost a goodly $ 70 million to produce ( viaThe Numbers ) . While thelaterDie Hardsequels would vacate the vacation time of year , go Hard 2copied the original ’s Christmas scope ( and just about everything else from the first film ) .
choke Hard 2 : Die Harder was a Brobdingnagian success in 1990 , but star Bruce Willis would subsequently reveal why the continuation is his least favorite of the series .
This time , John McClane is tasked with stopping the terrorist siege of an airport , not a skyscraper . And his married woman is circling the rails in a woodworking plane turn tail low on fuel , not being contain hostage in her office . Bruce Willis was set up to stardom byDie intemperately , so his salary was much steeper when the sequel came around — and blowing up planes ai n’t cheap .
8The Grinch
$75 Million
In 2018 , Dr. Seuss’How the Grinch Stole Christmas!was accommodate for the screenland for a third time , this time in the form of an vivify exertion for the big screen . merely titledThe Grinch , it cost $ 75 million to make ( viaBox Office Mojo ) . That might sound like a lot , but it ’s a relatively slender budget for an animated lineament from a major studio . The Grinchwas produced by Illumination , the masters of jolly price animation .
The Grinchwent on to gross an telling $ 540 million , so it made back its budget more than seven clock time over . This made itthe highest - grossing Christmas movie of all fourth dimension , beating out the old record holder , Home Alone . IfThe Grinchhad cost $ 200 million like some inspire films , then it might not have been considered so successful .
7Batman Returns
$80 Million
After 1989’sBatmanbecame a massive box seat spot winner , Warner Bros. enticed both managing director Tim Burton and asterisk Michael Keaton to come back for a sequel with the promise of creative control and a much larger budget of $ 80 million ( viaBox Office Mojo ) . There ’s been some debate overwhether or notBatman Returnsis a Christmas movie ; it take place at Christmas , but it ’s not very Christmasy . In fact , it ’s so grim that it ended up alien audiences and underperforming at the box office .
Whether it reckon as a Christmas movie or not , it was expensive to create . After the success of the first film , Burton and Keaton could name their toll . They also brought in other high-priced ace like Danny DeVito , Michelle Pfeiffer , and Christopher Walken . On top of that , Batman Returnshad mickle of high - price sets , costumes , props , and action succession .
6The Holiday
$85 Million
Nancy Meyers’The Holidaymight not look as expensive asThe Grinch , but it actually be even more to bring forth . Meyers had enjoyed a train of back - to - back hits withThe Parent Trap , What Women Want , andSomething ’s find ta Give , so the studios mat up comfortable intrust her with a smash hit budget of $ 85 million ( viaBox Office Mojo).The Holidayrevolves around two heartsick cleaning woman from different sides of the Atlantic — one American and one British — who coiffure a home interchange over the Christmas season .
Filmmaker Nancy Meyers has being the creative force behind some of the most financially successful comedies of the last few decennary .
The Holidaydidn’t need any with child , expensive special effects likeDie punishing 2orBatman Returns , but it did require to pay the remuneration of some of Hollywood ’s vainglorious ace . Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet play the two home - swappers , while Jude Law and Jack Black meet their love involvement , respectively . That ’s a lot of A - inclination paychecks .
5The Nutcracker And The Four Realms
$120 Million
Disney lost a lot of money on 2018’sThe Nutcracker and the Four Realms , which reportedly be the studio apartment $ 120 million to produce ( viaDeadline ) . It was gestate as a big - budget adaptation of Marius Petipa and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ’s 1892 balletThe Nutcracker . But the fatal fault in that concept is that megahit audience do n’t commonly show up for moving-picture show base on ballet , and this was no exception .
The Nutcracker and the Four Realmshad an infamously messy production , which probably drove up the costs and ballooned the budget . Lasse Hallström was initially announced as theatre director , butJurassic Park III ’s Joe Johnston did such encompassing reshoots that he ended up scoring a co - directing credit entry alongside Hallström . The Nutcracker and the Four Realmsbarely recouped its product budget , making it a pretty notorious boxwood office bomb calorimeter .
4How The Grinch Stole Christmas
$123 Million
The animatedGrinchmovie was n’t cheap , but the live - action one cost a lot more — and it was produce several years of inflation earlier than the cartoon . Ron Howard’sHow the Grinch Stole Christmaswas the firstfeature - length version of a Dr. Seuss bookand the first live - action adjustment . And based on how much it be to make for Seuss ’ vision to aliveness — $ 123 million ( viaBox Office Mojo ) — it ’s light to see why more studios did n’t jump at the probability .
How the Grinch slip Christmas is a newfangled classic thanks to Jim Carrey ’s over - the - top performance . The flick succeeded despite behind - the - scenes result .
Jim Carrey was one of the biggest movie stars in the existence at the sentence , so he could charge a pretty penny . The crowd employ detailed practical Set for key locations like Whoville and the Grinch ’s cave on Mount Crumpit , then used cutting - sharpness visual effects to digitally enhance those sets to resemble Seuss ’ iconic illustrations . It was quite the undertaking , and it was n’t cheap .
Universal Pictures
3The Polar Express
$170 Million
In the past match of decennary , Robert Zemeckis ’ filmmaking has been defined by technical experimentation . Five years before James Cameron would releaseAvatar , Zemeckis experiment with motion - capture technology in his animated Christmas adventureThe Polar Express . At the prison term , it was the most expensive animated picture show ever made with a whopping budget of $ 170 million ( via theL.A. Times ) . In 2006,The Polar Expressearned a Guinness World Record for being the first all - digital seizure motion picture .
develop new filmmaking applied science ( and figuring out how to apply them ) is n’t cheap , which is whyThe Polar Expresscost so much , and it ’s also speculative , because it means the kinks have n’t been iron out yet . Some audiences avoidedThe Polar Expressbecause the animation err into the uncanny valley . As a result , it welcome mixed reviews and let down at the box office staff .
2A Christmas Carol
$200 Million
Five years afterThe Polar Express , Zemeckis decided to make another invigorate Christmas moving-picture show with motion - seizure engineering — and this meter , he spent even more money on it . Zemeckis ’ gesture - capture adaptation of the Charles Dickens classicA Christmas Carolcost Disney a whopping $ 200 million to produce ( viaBox Office Mojo ) . There’sno shortage of movies free-base onA Christmas Carol(withThe Muppet Christmas Carolbeing unironically the good of the caboodle ) , but none of them have looked quite like Zemeckis ’ expressionistic 3D rendering .
This version ofA Christmas Carolis cast anchor by Jim Carrey ’s fine performance(s ) . Carrey not only play Ebenezer Scrooge , but all three of the ghosts that travel to him on Christmas Eve . If anything , all the expensive motion - seizure animation and 3D effect trouble from the moving-picture show ’s true strength : the employment of its unbelievable cast .
1Red One
$250 Million
Dwayne Johnson ’s latest eminent - concept action comedy , Red One , casts him as Santa Claus ’ chief of security , trying to save him from a crone . Although it was ab initio intended as a full-strength - to - streaming dismissal for Prime Video , Amazon MGM finally decided to put it in theaters . Red Onecost an extortionate $ 250 million to produce ( viaVariety ) , make it not only the most expensive Christmas moving-picture show ever made , but one of the most expensive motion-picture show ever made , period .
With its vapid CG effects and obvious use of greenscreens , Red Onecertainly does n’t look like it had a bigger budget thanAvatar — it looks like a run - of - the - mill streaming picture — so where did all that money go?TheWrapreports that Johnson ’s habit of show up several hours of late to the set drove up the budget and add up as much as $ 50 million to the overall monetary value . On top of that , Johnson was a producer on the film and , therefore , cut his own paycheck .
author : Box Office Mojo , The Numbers , Deadline , L.A. Times , Guinness World Records , Variety , TheWrap
Universal Pictures
