New financial filings reported by Fortune show that Universal spent about $658.8 million to make Jurassic World: Dominion, released in 2022, making it the most expensive movie ever produced. That total surpassed the previous record holder, Disney’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which cost about $638.9 million.
The enormous budget was driven largely by production during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Filming was delayed for months, and the studio had to keep paying for sets, equipment, crew, and actors even while production was shut down. The film also had to operate under strict health protocols throughout the process.
During quarantine, the cast, including Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern, and Sam Neill, stayed for about five months in a luxury hotel in Britain. Although the gross production cost was huge, Universal received generous tax incentives in the United Kingdom, where the movie was shot.
Those government rebates came to about $127.8 million, reducing the net production cost to roughly $531 million. Despite the spending, the film went on to earn nearly $1 billion worldwide and continued generating revenue through streaming, home entertainment sales, and merchandise.
