10 Most Expensive Animated Movies Ever Made

The most expensive animated movies of all time are all from the 2010s or later, suggesting that inflation is at least part of rising costs. However, some of the iconic animated movies that changed animation forever required a larger budget to account for the new technologies that the movie team pioneered. Still, it would seem that most animators have a ceiling when it comes to their budget, even when their movies are consistently successful.

Pixar accounts for most of the most expensive animated movies, But never spend more than $200 million. The best Pixar movies are proof enough that the studio knows what it’s doing, and has enough reason to be confident in spending the extra money or sticking to a budget. However, when working with the material from two of the best Disney movies of all time, executives decided to give even more money to make sure that the movie was made correctly.

10

elemental (2023)

Movie budget: $200 million

Elemental Was met with an average reception and garnered a couple of major awards show nominations despite its disappointment elsewhere. Although Pixar has long figured out most of the animation techniques needed for the movie, there is still a lot of creativity involved in applying typical environmental effects to personified characters. Pixar’s president Jim Morris announced (via Variety) that Elemental was so expensive to make “Because all the characters have visual effects.”

This tracks: The fire, water and cloud people of Element City are all unusual in composition (the earth people could have been easier because they are mostly solid). However, it must have been difficult to revert to old techniques for large background crowds when the crowd is made up of a variety of characters that require unique animation. luckily, Elemental came back after its disappointing first weekend at the box office and turned a profit, Allowing Ember and Wade’s story to shine and the animators’ work to pay off.

9

light year (2022)

Movie budget: $200 million

Light yearThe galactic setting looks like it would contribute to a big budget, with plenty of detail in the barren planet and space travel sequences. The salaries of the three stars riding on the high point of the MCU were not cheap either; Chris Evans voices Buzz, Josh Brolin is responsible, and Taika Waititi is Mo Morrison. Light year Possibly setting yourself up for failure by banking on such stars to bring in profits; Light yearIts price did not correspond to its box office performance.

Light year struggled to announce himself as a Toy Story Spinoff Completely different from all the others Toy Story Movie. It came out after the approximate official end of lockdown, but it is safe to say that movie theaters have struggled, in general, to come back from a movie culture at home. Light year It was almost cheap because its concept was great and how many previous movies cost the same amount to make, but it failed to live up to the name of its iconic title character.

8

Toy Story 4 (2019)

Movie budget: $200 million

interesting, Toy Story 4 Cost the same amount to make as Toy Story 3Which was published almost 10 years earlier. Although costs should supposedly go down as animation techniques are perfected and streamlined, Toy Story Push the boundaries of the physical forms of the characters and the details of the setting with each new movie. Toy Story 4 Features more plush toys than any of its predecessors, with the fluffy stuffed animals Ducky and Bunny demanding more work.

Meanwhile, the carnival and antique shop setting included lots of minuscule features for production design, while the cast expanded to include even more A-listers. however, Toy Story Has yet to see a financially unsuccessful movie, and Toy Story 4 Brought more than enough profits to make up for its budget. What remains to be seen is if costs will finally come down for Toy Story 5Or if the Pixar artists will come up with something clever again that keeps it as an expensive project.

7

Incredibles 2 (2018)

Movie budget: $200 million

The cast of main stars all returned for Incredibles 2Along with some new ones to increase costs. however, Incredibles 2 Possibly cost so much because it was doing justice to concepts that were arguably just ahead of what Pixar was capable of animating at the time From the first movie production. The Incredibles was Pixar’s first movie to focus primarily on people, and people with unique physicalities at that. They have avoided showing people as much as possible in Toy Story And Finding Nemo When toys and fish are easier to make.

The people in The Incredibles Look just a little bit creepy, though Pixar was over-competent when it came time to make Incredibles 2. They spared no expense to make everything and everyone in the movie look as sleek as possible. Incredibles 2 was met with the success of most sequels to Pixar’s classics, prompting a huge Father’s Day weekend family event that brought old fans in droves for the superhero family’s next adventure.

6

Finding Dory (2016)

Movie budget: $200 million

Ellen DeGeneres announced that she was paid “$75,000 for three years of work” To voice Dory in Finding Nemo (via Business Insider). The Ellen DeGeneres Show Premiere in the same year Finding Nemo came out, the beginning of her campaign to make a Finding Nemo Sequel. It is a safe assumption that DeGeneres and Pixar’s net worth were both much higher at the time Find Dory; In addition to her salary, it is what they paid for Signori Weaver’s voice.

Many more impressive stars joined the cast for the highly anticipated sequel, which included the challenging animation of the great blue sea, as well as the water settings in the aquarium. Despite Find Dorys weaknesses, pure nostalgia led it to the $1 billion mark at the box office. Given as beloved Finding Nemo Yes, it would be very difficult for any movie remotely related to it to fail.

5

Monsters University (2013)

Movie budget: $200 million

Billy Crystal and John Goodman were always huge stars for Monsters, Inc. To have recruited, let alone get back for a prequel. In addition, as with Elemental, It is difficult to use standard animation techniques for background characters in a world like Monsters University When everyone has a unique plan. Monsters University Is an average addition to the franchise that did not necessarily need to happen, but it made a sizeable profit at the box office.

New movies attached to anything from the Pixar Golden Age like Find Dory And Incredibles 2 are almost guaranteed to find success. What’s interesting about Monsters University Is it a prequel rather than a sequel, Promising the fun setting of a university for monsters rather than a workplace. It loses the novelty and emotional variety of its predecessor, depending too much on prequel clichés, but is a serviceable movie.

4

Cars 2 (2011)

Movie budget: $200 million

Cars 2 Saw new actors, more settings, more races and everything in between. However, it is also essentially James Bond meets CarsRacking up costs where some of the secret agent special features are concerned. With explosions to go around, Cars 2 He had his work cut out for him. Unfortunately for Pixar, the movie didn’t live up to their expectations or fans’ fondness for the down-to-earth original movie. Cars 2 technically made a profit, But that’s where anything good to say about him ends.

Cars 2 is generally considered one of the worst Pixar movies and at least its worst sequel. It didn’t have as much time to build nostalgia as some of the studio’s other legacy sequels and completely abandoned the tone and themes of the original. Pixar at least learned from its mistakes with Cars 2 And returned to a story about fame and career in Cars 3, Not one of Pixar’s best movies but at least better than the installment that came before.

3

Toy Story 3 (2010)

Movie budget: $200 million

Pixar went for bigger and better with Toy Story 3. The human characters finally look like real people, the cast list expands and there are more complex settings than ever before. The toys move around a lot in the first two movies, but when you revisit them, it’s possible to see how the designs of the settings are much simpler. It pays off when Toy Story 3 was received as the perfect, then assumed to be the end of the franchise, Which was nominated for Best Picture.

Sunnyside Daycare has lots of moving pieces, while a larger variety of toys. Toy Story 3 was also the first Pixar movie to use the then-brand new Dolby Surround 7.1 technology, Cost them extra dollars (by SlashFilm). however, Toy Story 3 is one of the most tear-jerking Pixar movies there is, depicting all the feelings about growing up and moving away through the eyes of Andy’s toys, and it’s worth Pixar spending the extra money to make it special.

2

The Lion King (2019)

Movie budget: $260 million

Most people can probably guess what Jon Favreau’s The Lion King Cost so much to make, a movie that is labeled as “animated” Due to all the characters that are rendered on computers – even if they are designed to look much more realistic than regular animation. in comparison, Favreau’s The Jungle Book cost 175 million dollars. The combination of the movie’s acclaimed cast and its groundbreaking technology drove costs far above even Pixar’s highest budget.

The Lion King is a direct product of the remake era of Disney Live Action, which continues to bring in profits despite some annoyance among audiences. however, No one can deny that The Lion King is a huge accomplishment of CGI And design and that the shape of new and old lion king Actors are very impressive. Disney felt emboldened enough by his success to make these Mufasa Prequel, using the same techniques.

1

Tangled (2010)

Movie budget: $260 million

The company’s most expensive animated movie of all time doesn’t go to Pixar and not Crazy “Live Action” feature, but the now-classic ramp TangledDisney’s first 3D animated Disney Princess movie. Tangled Going through a lot of rewrites and an extensive production cycle due to the animation of Rapunzel’s hair, Racking up costs (by CBR). After the lackluster period of the 2000s for Disney animation, they were committed to getting the movie right – and succeeded, setting the stage for Frozen Three years later.

3D animation has proven to be risky at Disney With the failures of Treasure Island And Meet the Robinsons In the 2000s. The studio spent a lot of money on TangledBut this is arguably a long-term investment when figuring out this technology meant the success of later movies. It still may come as a surprise that Tangled is the most expensive animated movie ever made, but that’s partly because it was made at a time and by people who were still learning their way around this animation style.

Source: Variety, Business Insider, SlashFilm, CBR