Most Expensive 3D Animated Movies

Most Expensive 3D Animated Movies, Ever!

Even with production costs that can reach up to 170 million dollars U.S., animated movies are still among the most profitable for the movie industry. During the past 5 years, almost every major film studio has sought to emulate the success of the genre pioneered by Pixar (which was recently acquired by Disney) and lately, Dreamworks Animation. Even the smaller, independently financed studios are producing more 3D animated films.

So what are the most expensive 3D animated films ever made? The following list shows the production costs of each movie, its U.S. box office take, and its worldwide box office take. All figures are rounded to the nearest million, and do not include promotion costs, which can run anywhere from 10-50 million USD per picture.

#8
Toy Story 2
Released 11/19/99
Distributor: Buena Vista

Toy Story 2 is the sequel to the successful original Toy Story movie, also produced by Pixar and distributed by Disney.The movie revolves around the adventures of a group of toys that come to life when no humans are around to see them.

The movie holds the distinction of being the best reviewed movie ever on the movie site "Rotten Tomatoes". There are 108 reviews listed for the movie, all of them positive.

Production Costs: $90 Million (USD)
U.S. Box Office: $246 Million (USD)
Worldwide Box Office: $486 Million (USD)

#7
The Incredibles
Released 11/5/04
Distributor: Buena Vista

The Incredibles won the Academy Award in 2004 for best animated feature film. It is Pixars 6th feature film, and the first to be rated PG, rather than G. It was also the highest selling DVD of 2005 with 17.4 million copies sold.

Production Costs: $92 Million (USD)
U.S. Box Office: $261 Million (USD)
Worldwide Box Office: $631 Million (USD)

#5
Treasure Planet
Released 11/27/02
Distributor: Buena Vista

Treasure Planet was a rare miss for Disney/Buena Vista. A spectacular miss, actually. It is known as one of the biggest box office bombs ever. The makers of the film used an innovative animation technique, combining hand drawn 2D animation and 3D computer animation. It is also the first film ever to be released simultaneously in regular and IMAX theaters. Despite these innovations, the film failed to connect with audiences. Some blame the failure on the high competion that year (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Lord Of The Rings Two Towers, and The Santa Clause 2 were all released around the same time). The high production costs were blamed on the 2D/3D technique. Many critics say the final results of the technique were not worth the extra costs. But you gotta give Disney credit for trying.

Production Costs: $100 Million (USD)
U.S. Box Office: $38 Million (USD)
Worldwide Box Office: $91 Million (USD)

#6
Finding Nemo
Released 5/30/03
Distributor: Buena Vista

Finding Nemo is another academy award winning feature film for Pixar studios. The heart-warming Finding Nemo had an opening weekend gross of $70 million, a record at the time, but was soon surpassed in 2004 by Shrek 2. There are many rumours about a sequel, but this has not been confirmed officially.

Production Costs: $94 Million (USD)
U.S. Box Office: $339 Million (USD)
Worldwide Box Office: $866 Million (USD)

#10
Shark Tale
Released 10/1/04
Distributor: Dreamworks

Shark Tale managed to make a hefty profit for Dreamworks, even though it was widely panned by critics (On Rotten Tomatoes, only 35% of 160 critics gave it a positive review) The film had its controversies, mostly dealing with the ethnic stereotypes portrayed by some of the movie's characters. Examples:
Italian Americans complained about the stereotypical mobster references;
Some African Americans were offended by the stereotypical behavior of Will Smith's character.

Production Costs: $75 Million (USD)
U.S. Box Office: $161 Million (USD)
Worldwide Box Office: $363 Million (USD)

#9
The Wild
Released 4/14/06
Distributor: Buena Vista

The Wild is from C.O.R.E. Feature Animation, and was distributed by Buena Vista (Disney). The movie was accused of being a rip off of the movie "Madagascar", although "The Wild" is reported to have been in production before "Madagascar". The film only did fair numbers at the box office.

Production Costs: $80 Million (USD)
U.S. Box Office: $37 Million (USD)
Worldwide Box Office: $87 Million (USD)

#4
Monsters Inc.
Released 11/2/01
Distributor: Buena Vista

Monsters, Inc. was the 4th film in the Pixar lineup. The film, about monsters who are afraid of children, opened with the highest ticket sales ever at the time, and is the 6th most popular animated film in history.

Production Costs: $115 Million (USD)
U.S. Box Office: $256 Million (USD)
Worldwide Box Office: $525 Million (USD)

#3
Dinosaur
Released 5/19/00
Distributor: Buena Vista

Dinosaur used live action backgrounds combined with computer animated effects, with spectacular results. The opening two minutes of the film are particularly impressive. The movie was supposed to have no dialogue at all (just a narrator), but Disney head Michael Eisner insisted on dialogue to make the movie more commercially viable. It was the highest-budgeted movie of 2000, with a reported cost of $128 million USD (some unnoficial estimates go as high as 200 million).

Production Costs: $128 Million (USD)
U.S. Box Office: $138 Million (USD)
Worldwide Box Office: $356 Million (USD)

#2
Final Fantasy: Spirits Within
Released 7/11/01
Distributor: Sony

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was the first film to attempt photo-realistic computer generated human characters. The movie was promoted agressively by its distributor, Sony Pictures. Despite the promotion, the film went on to become the second biggest flop in animated film history (Treasure Planet is #1), nearly bankrupting its creator, Square Pictures. Many speculate that the failure was due to the fact that the movie was nothing like the video game it was supposed to be based on, alienating many of the movie's potential fan base.

Production Costs: $137 Million (USD)
U.S. Box Office: $32 Million (USD)
Worldwide Box Office: $85 Million (USD)

#1
The Polar Express
Released 11/10/04
Distributor: Buena Vista

This 2004 feature film was based on the children's book of the same name, by Chris Van Allsburg. The actual book can be read in about 5 minutes, but the film was 90 minutes long. The film enjoyed modest box office success, but the results for the film's 3D Imax version were incredible. Financially, the 3D version outperformed the 2D version by 14 to 1! There are now plans to release the movie in its Imax format every year during the holiday season, so expect even higher revenue for the film in the future.

Production Costs: $170 Million (USD)
U.S. Box Office: $173 Million (USD)
Worldwide Box Office: $297 Million (USD)

Honorable Mentions:

Titan A.E.
Released 6/16/00
Distributor: 20th Century Fox

The animated science fiction film Titan A.E. was released in 2000. It was created by Fox Animation Studios, and distributed by Twentieth Century Fox. The low box office for the film resulted in a section of Fox Animation Studios being shut down.

Production Costs: $75 Million (USD)
U.S. Box Office: $23 Million (USD)
Worldwide Box Office: $37 Million (USD)

Shrek 2
Released 5/19/04
Distributor: Dreamworks

Shrek 2 had the largest opening for an animated movie, ever, and went on to be the most successful film of 2004. Shrek 4 was recently released.

Production Costs: $70 Million (USD)
U.S. Box Office: $437 Million (USD)
Worldwide Box Office: $916 Million (USD)

Two more films should be mentioned that didn't make it to the top 10. Only because one was such a spectacular failure, the other a fantastic success:

Thanks to:
http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/records/allbudgets.php

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