# James Cameron the first director to break the 100m,200m and 300m movie budget marks?! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 12, 2009, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-the-first-director-to-break-the-100m-200m-and-300m-movie-budget-marks/506201 "2009-08-12T18:13:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-the-first-director-to-break-the-100m-200m-and-300m-movie-budget-marks/506201/1 "2009-08-12T18:13:29Z")
I am sure most of you have heard of Cameron’s upcoming Avatar which is AFAIK the first movie with a budget of 300m. I was curious about which movies were the first to beat the 100m and 200m marks. ``` This [list](http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/records/allbudgets.php)of big budget films suggests that 200 was first beaten by Titanic. For 100 they list a 1980 movie called the Island but this is almost certainly a mistake; Boxoffice Mojo says its budget was just 22m which would make a lot more sense. That means that the first to beat 100m was Terminator 2 directed by Cameron (BM confirms that this cost 102m). ``` Of course there are probably other mistakes and omissions on that list but it appears that Cameron was the first director to break the 100,200 and 300 mark which is quite extraordinary since he has only directed about 8 movies of which one was a documentary. If you include Avatar, then of his latest 4 big-budget films, 3 were the most expensive movies ever made at the time (not adjusting for inflation). The fourth: True Lies at 115m was very expensive for its day as well and may well been yet another record at the time. How does he do it? I wonder if he is aware of this record and busy planning the first 400m movie. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-the-first-director-to-break-the-100m-200m-and-300m-movie-budget-marks/506201/2 "2009-08-12T18:19:35Z")
[Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_expensive_films#Most_expensive_Hollywood_films_.28adjusted_for_inflation.29) says that Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End was budgeted at $300M. Amazing that until PoC:AWE, Cleopatra (1963) was still the all-time “adjusted for inflation” leader. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-the-first-director-to-break-the-100m-200m-and-300m-movie-budget-marks/506201/3 "2009-08-12T18:24:31Z")
Ah you are right. BM confirms that POTC 3 had a budget of 300m. So Cameron doesn’t have the record. He still has an amazing run of crazily expensive movies. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-the-first-director-to-break-the-100m-200m-and-300m-movie-budget-marks/506201/4 "2009-08-12T20:31:14Z")
> [@fiddlesticks](#): > > [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_expensive_films#Most_expensive_Hollywood_films_.28adjusted_for_inflation.29) says that Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End was budgeted at $300M. Amazing that until PoC:AWE, Cleopatra (1963) was still the all-time “adjusted for inflation” leader. Hmm, I don’t know about that–wasn’t that sum the total of both World’s End and Dead Man’s Chest (the second movie)? ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-the-first-director-to-break-the-100m-200m-and-300m-movie-budget-marks/506201/5 "2009-08-12T20:31:52Z")
That make their nut _back_. Can’t forget that part. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-the-first-director-to-break-the-100m-200m-and-300m-movie-budget-marks/506201/6 "2009-08-12T20:39:52Z")
During the production of Titanic, I remember reading articles about how over budget the movie was getting and how it looked like it was going to be an enormous loss for the studio and about the problems they had filming in that giant tank in Mexico. (I think the articles might have involved puns on the word “titanic”.) So the enormous success of the movie probably gave him a lot of leeway for future films. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-the-first-director-to-break-the-100m-200m-and-300m-movie-budget-marks/506201/7 "2009-08-12T20:53:21Z")
I thought I recalled Waterworld being the first $200M film. I definitely remember it broke records for its time. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-the-first-director-to-break-the-100m-200m-and-300m-movie-budget-marks/506201/8 "2009-08-12T21:01:50Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > That make their nut _back_. Can’t forget that part. True, pretty much all his films have made a lot of money. Still his budgets do seem rather excessive. For instance did True Lies really need 115m back in 1994? To put that figure in perspective, Jurassic Park made a year earlier cost just 63m according to BM. Incidentally it’s interesting how many big hits in Hollywood history had major production problems. You could add Star Wars, Gone with the Wind, Godfather, Toy Story, Snow White and Jaws along with Titanic. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-the-first-director-to-break-the-100m-200m-and-300m-movie-budget-marks/506201/9 "2009-08-12T21:03:35Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > I thought I recalled Waterworld being the first $200M film. I definitely remember it broke records for its time. It did break the record but BM says the movie cost 175m Of course all these budget stats may not be that accurate. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-the-first-director-to-break-the-100m-200m-and-300m-movie-budget-marks/506201/10 "2009-08-13T01:56:58Z")
> [@Lantern](#): > > So Cameron doesn’t have the record. He still has an amazing run of crazily expensive movies. And yet, the best movie he’s ever made cost less than $7M total. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-the-first-director-to-break-the-100m-200m-and-300m-movie-budget-marks/506201/11 "2009-08-13T02:04:30Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > And yet, the best movie he’s ever made cost less than $7M total. Terminator 2 cost a lot more than that. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-the-first-director-to-break-the-100m-200m-and-300m-movie-budget-marks/506201/12 "2009-08-13T15:04:16Z")
Isn’t anyone else a bit worried that this close to the release of Avatar there has only been a few stills that have been leaked? I figured that for sure there was going to be at least a teaser trailer before some of the big summer movies at this point… I wonder if studios think Cameron will do for 3D, what he did (for better or worse) for CGI. ---
**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-the-first-director-to-break-the-100m-200m-and-300m-movie-budget-marks/506201/13 "2009-08-13T16:47:17Z")
I think one of the things about “Waterworld” was that it was way OVER budget. I mean, if you’re saying it cost X to make, then fine, but I don’t think it was budgeted to cost that much, but once they got into it, they had to try to get some of their investment back out. ---
**Author:** ![Brandus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Brandus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brandus)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-the-first-director-to-break-the-100m-200m-and-300m-movie-budget-marks/506201/14 "2009-08-13T17:04:13Z")
Eh, I’m not really excited for Avatar. The few stills that have leaked seem like any other generic sci-fi. I like movies that are well written and acted, not how good the special effects are. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-the-first-director-to-break-the-100m-200m-and-300m-movie-budget-marks/506201/15 "2009-08-13T20:56:08Z")
Wow all this time I thought M. Night Shyamalan and James Cameron were making competing Avatar: The Last Airbender movies! ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-the-first-director-to-break-the-100m-200m-and-300m-movie-budget-marks/506201/16 "2009-08-13T23:53:14Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Terminator 2 cost a lot more than that. You’re absolutely right. It did (but doesn’t even place in the top 3 films he’s directed). ---
**Author:** ![SlickRoenick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@SlickRoenick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlickRoenick)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-the-first-director-to-break-the-100m-200m-and-300m-movie-budget-marks/506201/17 "2009-08-14T01:10:00Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Wow all this time I thought M. Night Shyamalan and James Cameron were making competing Avatar: The Last Airbender movies! So each director is doing their own version, or just completely different movies all together? ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-the-first-director-to-break-the-100m-200m-and-300m-movie-budget-marks/506201/18 "2009-08-14T01:12:52Z")
> [@SlickRoenick](#): > > So each director is doing their own version, or just completely different movies all together? M. Night’s film is called _The Last Airbender_- the word “Avatar” was removed from the title to avoid confusion with the Cameron film, which has no relation. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-the-first-director-to-break-the-100m-200m-and-300m-movie-budget-marks/506201/19 "2009-08-14T01:24:07Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > You’re absolutely right. It did (but doesn’t even place in the top 3 films he’s directed). Wow, tough room. Seriously though, what three movies has Cameron directed that would top T2? T1, if that’s how you role, OK. Aliens, maybe, I can see it, but barely. The Abyss? Titanic? Piranha 2? Come on. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-the-first-director-to-break-the-100m-200m-and-300m-movie-budget-marks/506201/20 "2009-08-14T02:52:24Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Isn’t anyone else a bit worried that this close to the release of Avatar there has only been a few stills that have been leaked? I figured that for sure there was going to be at least a teaser trailer before some of the big summer movies at this point… > > I wonder if studios think Cameron will do for 3D, what he did (for better or worse) for CGI. Trailer comes out next week, along with a 15 minute tease in selected IMAX cinemas worldwide. He certainly believes his film will revolutionise the way 3D is used, but in terms of story and effects spectacle, he [recently played that aspect down somewhat](http://www.aintitcool.com/node/41244).