'Jurassic World: Dominion' cost $658 million to make

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NBCUniversal has taken Disney’s title of making the most expensive movie of all time, according to analysis of recently filed financial statements.

The filings show that Universal Pictures spent $658.8 million making the 2022 action-adventure pic “Jurassic World: Dominion,” surpassing the previous record-holder, Disney’s 2015 “Star Wars” reboot “The Force Awakens” which cost $638.9 million. Universal and Disney have been contacted for comment.

“Dominion” was the third film in Universal’s “Jurassic World” series, and it united its stars Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt with Lara Dern, Jeff Goldblum, and Sam Neill, who headlined the original “Jurassic Park” trilogy


Filmed at the peak of the pandemic in 2020, Universal had to adopt costly safety protocols during production. It also faced months of delays which pushed the premiere of the movie back by a year to June 2022.

Maintaining productions in a state of readiness during the downtime caused studios’ costs to surge as they had to continue paying for soundstages and leased equipment, which could not be returned without risking losing the access window to it. Furthermore, some security staff had to be paid to watch over sets. And so did some high-level producers and department heads, to ensure they remained available when the pandemic receded.

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The exact cost of making movies in the U.S. is usually a closely guarded secret. Although the “budget” for a movie may leak, the fully itemized costs are combined in disclosures to the SEC, thiys hiding costs for individual movies.

It’s a different story in the U.K., where “Dominion” and “The Force Awakens” were both made.

Studios filming in the U.K. benefit from the government’s Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit (AVEC) which gives them a cash reimbursement of up to 25.5% of the money they spend there, as an incentive for foreign studios to use British talent and locations. 

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