Ouch! I have to believe that is Aussie Dollars. Considering the cost of the last Spidey movie - a budget of 150 - 200 million US does not sound too far fetched. Anything more than that and they are taking a big risk on recovering their costs.

They probably intend to create a full size planet Krypton and then blow it up :P

It paid off for Titanic - $300M budget (still the biggest ever)...$1.8Billion World Wide Gross.

Don't think Superman will do even half those numbers..

It's just silly to spend that much on a film. That is why there is a glut of sub $20M horror and/or teen flicks...they always make their money back. In this case they have to be in the top 50 films of all time just to break even...Oh Well, there is always DVD, that ought to be good for a couple hundred million to bring the film back into the black.

Seems like a big, unnecessary gamble though.

What I wonder is if this number includes all the production that came over the last 5 years that it's been in devlopment, like the $10 million that Nic Cage got paid to NOT be superman. I've seen the teaser, and it doesn't look like there is enough there to spend $250 million on. Maybe that number was leaked for hype value.

For some reason I am not all that hyped about Superman...I thougth the first movies with Reeves was good...but the others were dry. Cant Hollywood think of anything new...most remakes I have seen over the past few years have sucked horrendously. Batman was good...maybe that is what they are fueling off of...Batman did well so why cant Superman? I watched the trailer and read all reviews/blogs and am not impressed. What happened to Batman VS Superman? Now that would make some money.

Triffic, maybe if those sub 20M were willing to spend more money we wouldnt be givin` such crap at the theatres.. Just think about it.. Is spending 250M that bad? Personally I think more studios shoudl spend more money.. because the product coming out the other side is crappy crap...So I say spend the 250M.. hell spend 500M I dont care.. if it takes spenind 250M to make me entertained for 2 hours then so be it.

( And those films sud20 getting there money back?.. well yes most of them do.. but what if they spent an extra 15M.. then maybe there movie would be that much better, and earn 5 times its cost instead of just covering it.. anyway End Rant)

Remember that "The War of the Worlds" had a cost of $300 million, if I recall correctly. Unfortunately, a big budget doesn't imply a good film, not even more than average FX.

Forget my last comment. It had a budget of "only" $128 million.

I doubt Warner Brothers would spend that much on Superman when the Superman franchise was never as popular as Batman.

Hey Triflic,

Actually, Titanic had a production cost of $200 million which does make it the most expensive of all time. Plus $40 million for marketing.

At any rate... it does seem REALLY high. But even if Superman makes 1/3 of titanic... that would still equal $600 million. Good profit margin.

I don't think $600 million world wide is unrealistic. Especially when you consider that nothing major of note is due out next summer. No more Lord of the Rings films... no more Star Wars films... no Batman movie... no more Matrix... I don't see any serious heavy box office hitter slaterd for next summer in the same calibre of Superman.

Good points John. I am sure this film will do just fine. Superman is a hero all the world over. I don't think they even need to spend so much on making it, it will make just as much money either way. Good director and Spacey as the villian its got Blockbuster written all over it. If they want to spend so much making it hopefully better than good for them. It will still only cost me 7.50 or 8 dollars to see it no matter what they spent on it. Also with many movies like War of the Worlds and so many others the actors are getting 20 million or more. Unless Spacey demanded a big payday none of these actors are getting much of the cost. If War cost 200 at least 20 was Tom Cruises so the movie only cost 180 aside from him.

i dunnno about you guys but there gettin my $7.50

I wonder if this budget encompasses the previous fuckups that the Superman movie has made over the last ten years, including costs for Kevin Smith's script work, Tim Burton's $10mill pay or play contract, Abrams' now-infamous script, McG and everyone else this film has gone through to get to Bryan Singer. That's a lot of overheads that in a roundabout way led WB to this point.

Good point, Darren. Who knows where all the money has gone? Maybe if the accountants crunched the numbers they might find the movie only cost 100 mil with the rest being lost in needless spending. Maybe the Aussies are rippin em off down there.

Can they even break even? Are there no other contenders for next year's summer release to give Superman some competition?

I'm sure there are some other blockbusters. When is Pirates 2 coming out?

I'd have to say with all the comic book hype right now that Superman is a guaranteed hit. Everyone knows who superman is and those who saw the originals with Christopher Reeves will be curious to see how Spacey compares...

Even if the movie makes just enough at the US box office to cover production costs. The movie will make serious bank overall after international box office (my guess record receipts), movie rentals, DVD and BluRay/HDDVD sales (multiple format to sell).

whats funny is that most of the comments above are hoping that kevin spacey will pull in the box office. i thought this movie was called superman.