Zack Snyder is bringing Netflix’s biggest original movie of 2023, Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire. While Rebel Moon is the most expensive Netflix project this year, it isn’t the most expensive Netflix film. Here are the six most expensive Netflix original movies to date.
Triple Frontier ($115 Million)
Filmmaker J.C. Shandor assembled an all-star cast for his tautly delivered action movie Triple Frontier, which he directed and co-wrote. Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunnam, Garrett Hedlund, and Pedro Pascal play former Delta Force operators who target a Colombian drug lord of his vast fortune. However, the team’s greed gets the better of them as they find themselves behind enemy lines and in for an arduous return home from their unsanctioned adventure.
With so many big-name actors and higher salaries because of the lack of a traditional residual payment system on streaming platforms, Triple Frontier had a production budget of $115 million. Filming on location in Hawaii and Colombia, along with unexpected production delays, also contributed to the higher budget. Though it led to reports of Netflix evaluating its budget for original content because of the expensive production, this was refuted by Netflix in a public statement after Triple Frontier’s release in 2019.
Outlaw King ($120 Million)
After helming the widely acclaimed Texas-based crime drama Hell or High Water, Scottish filmmaker David Mackenzie crafted an ambitious historical epic in his homeland with 2018’s Outlaw King. Mackenzie reunites with actor Chris Pine to recount the rise of 14th-century Scottish King Robert the Bruce, who takes on English oppression to regain Scotland’s independence. This places Robert and his loyalists on a collision course with King Edward and the formidable English army.
Outlaw King was filmed on location in Scotland and England, with many historical castles used for shooting sites throughout the production. The film boasts several major battle sequences, which undoubtedly significantly contributed to the movie’s reported $120 million production budget. A definite change of pace for Mackenzie, Outlaw King is the biggest swing the filmmaker has taken in his career to date, and it carries the notable price tag to reflect that.
6 Underground ($150 Million)
For as expensive as it was, Triple Frontier wasn’t the most costly Netflix original movie in 2019, with the streaming service also putting out the Michael Bay-directed 6 Underground that year. Starring Ryan Reynolds, 6 Underground has a heroic billionaire form an elite team to go around the world to take on criminals considered untouchable by local authorities. This culminates in the ensemble staging a coup on an especially vicious dictatorship that pushes the team to its very limits.
Given the movie’s global scope, 6 Underground featured filming locations all over the world, including the United Arab Emirates, which also doubled for Las Vegas during the production. Filming in Italy involved shooting in historic parts of Rome and Florence while the production included Bay’s signature explosive action on full display. Though a franchise was initially intended to launch from 6 Underground, the $150 million price tag and mixed critical response led Netflix to cancel its plans for a direct follow-up.
The Irishman ($160 Million)
As vocal as filmmaker Martin Scorsese has been about the theatrical experience and its value to cinema, he did direct and produce one of Netflix’s biggest movies to date, 2019’s The Irishman. Adapting the 2004 book, I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt, purportedly about mob enforcer Frank Sheeran, the film shows Frank joining the Bufalino crime family and linking up with teamster union leader Jimmy Hoffa. As Hoffa’s relationship with the crime syndicate becomes estranged, Frank has to make difficult decisions about his true loyalties.
Though most figures place The Irishman’s production budget around $160 million, there are some reports that claim the crime movie cost as much as $250 million to make. Much of the budget was eaten up by the digital effects, de-aging stars Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Al Pacino, rather than recasting the roles with different actors to play younger versions of the characters. With a story spanning 50 years, including a brief flashback to World War II, the production spared no expense, creating a true crime epic that runs for nearly three and a half hours.
Red Notice ($200 Million)
After working with Dwayne Johnson on Skyscraper and Central Intelligence, filmmaker Rawson Marshall Thurber reunited with him for the 2021 Netflix action comedy Red Notice. Johnson is joined by Gal Gadot and Ryan Reynolds, who play rare art thieves seemingly pursued by Johnson’s character. The trio find themselves embroiled in a global heist involving jeweled eggs dating back to the Roman Empire, with deadly figures competing with them to obtain the eggs for themselves.
With three of the biggest movie stars in the world and filming locations all over the world, Red Notice was already slated to be one of Netflix’s most expensive original films, initially budgeted at $160 million. However, it was also Netflix’s largest movie production affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with principal photography delayed. By the time filming and post-production were eventually completed, the budget had swelled to $200 million.
The Gray Man ($200 Million)
There is actually something of a tie between the Netflix original movies with the highest production budgets, with the other $200 million production being 2022’s The Gray Man. After crafting the biggest hits in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, filmmakers Joe and Anthony Russo delved into high-octane espionage, adapting Mark Greaney’s 2009 thriller novel The Gray Man. The globe-trotting spy movie has Ryan Gosling play a CIA agent on the run after uncovering an illicit conspiracy within the agency’s highest ranks, hunted by an unhinged assassin played by Chris Evans.
Apart from its all-star cast, led by Gosling and Evans, The Gray Man was filmed all around Europe to help capture its international scope and stakes. This contributed to an enormous production budget rivaling Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters and higher than the Russos’ previous budget for Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The Gray Man is among Netflix’s most expensive efforts, shelling out big bucks for the highest-profile cast and crew currently in the business.
