Celebrated and prolific director Ridley Scott is currently at work shooting a Napoleon Bonaparte biopic. Given that it's a war epic and is being made for Apple TV+, a streaming service that is seemingly throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at all its projects, Napoleon will undoubtedly have one of Scott's biggest production costs ever.
But the filmmaker is no stranger to big-budget movies, as he has delivered some of the most expensive epics ever made. Interestingly, Scott's lower-budget movies do the box office numbers that are expected of his higher-budget movies and vice versa, as all of the director's most expensive films have been box office bombs. All budgets are according to Box Office Mojo unless stated otherwise.
Black Hawk Down (2001) - $92 Million
Ridley Scott has made a movie in every genre under the sun, and whether it's sci-fi or swords-and-sandals, he's directed several of each. However, the director has only ever made one war epic. While G.I. Jane is a war drama, it isn't anywhere close to the scale of Black Hawk Down. Every cent of the movie's $92 million budget can be seen in every frame of the film.
The 2001 film was criticized for its historical inaccuracies, as it's based on the real-life Task Force Ranger that Clinton deployed into Somalia during its Civil War. However, it's a compelling, thrilling, and explosive war film, and it deserves to be more in the conversation when it comes to debating the best war movies of the 2000s.
Alien: Covenant (2017) - $97 Million
After it was revealed that Prometheus was a secret prequel to Alien, it opened up the floodgates to more Scott-directed Alien content. And 2017's Alien: Covenant saw him fully return to the sci-fi horror series. But given the lower-than-usual budget and less of a demand from audiences, it was a case of diminishing returns, and the poor critical response made that clear too.
Interestingly, the movie somehow grossed less at the box office than Prometheus, which is shocking given that the 2012 prequel wasn't actually marketed as an Alien movie. And though Covenant had a much lower budget than Prometheus, it isn't enough to warrant the huge difference of $160 million in gross profit.
The Last Duel (2021) - $100 Million
Scott is one of the most prolific directors ever, as he often works on two huge movies at the same time. This happened as recently as 2021, as the year saw the release of both House of Gucci and The Last Duel. The latter is generally considered the better of the two, as it saw the director return to a genre he's so well-versed in, having directed sword-and-sandals epics like Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven.
The Last Duel also saw Scott operating on a much higher budget than House of Gucci, which allowed for spectacular-looking 1300s set and costume design and epic battles. But the epic ironically made much less than the 1970s-based drama, and it bombed at the box office, making only $30 million worldwide.
American Gangster (2007) - $100 Million
On the face of it, it's hard to believe that American Gangster cost $100 million to make, as it's a crime drama and isn't exactly a blockbuster movie like Alien or Black Hawk Down. It's even more surprising given that it was released 15 years ago, and adjusted for inflation, that $100 million would be a lot more today.
However, the movie is set in the 1960s, and it's the most believable looking 60s ever found in a movie. The film feels so lived in, and all those period-accurate vehicles, clothes, and storefront facades are expensive. Thankfully, while the high budget was definitely a risk, it also paid off big time, as the 2007 release was a huge hit worldwide.
Gladiator (2000) - $103 Million
Gladiator is widely considered not just the best swords-and-sandals movie, but one of the best films of all time. While Scott was very much an established director with tons of hits under his belt by the year 2000, Gladiator was the first movie that saw him working with a budget higher than $50 million, let alone one that was nine digits.
Up until 2015's The Martian, Gladiator was Scott's biggest success in terms of box office gross, making $460 million worldwide. And thanks to the movie being such a box office phenomenon, Scott was essentially awarded any budget that he deemed necessary for every movie for the rest of his career.
The Martian (2015) - $108 Million
While $108 million sounds like a lot, The Martian's production cost is actually fairly economical compared to other movies of its kind. Considering that the film is mostly set in space, is full of advanced practical and digital effects, and stars Matt Damon, who no doubt comes with huge salary demands, $108 million is surprisingly low.
Even if the 2015 sci-fi movie had a higher budget, it would have hardly dented its success. It's clear from The Martian that Scott is the best director Damon has worked with, and it's Scott's biggest ever box office hit, not just in terms of gross profit but net profit too. The film hugely overperformed, earning $630 million worldwide, more than 20th Century Fox could have ever predicted.
Prometheus (2012) - $130 Million
Scott has directed several sci-fi movies of the past decade and is easily best known for being a science fiction visionary thanks to directing Alien and the cult classic Blade Runner. However, before the release of 2012's Prometheus, the filmmaker hadn't directed a sci-fi movie in 30 years. That's part of why Prometheus was so successful, as even general audiences were somewhat aware that the film was a legendary director's return to what made him legendary in the first place.
On top of that, it was part of the Alien franchise too, and while it was heavily speculated, nobody knew for sure whether or not it would be tied to the iconic series. There's a lot riding on a movie that costs $130 million to make, so it's incredibly commendable that 20th Century Fox didn't promote it as an Alien movie, which would have guaranteed an audience.
Kingdom Of Heaven (2005) - $130 Million
The studio was undoubtedly quick to greenlight a $130 million budget for Kingdom of Heaven once Scott came on board as director. And though that's part of the reason why 21st Century Fox lost money on it, anybody else in the position of the studio head would have done the same thing.
The film was only a few years removed from Scott's success with Gladiator, which was a box office hit, a cinephile's favorite, and is often screened to students in film school. But despite being cut from the same cloth as the 2000 movie and having a bigger budget to play with, Scott couldn't repeat Gladiator's success. Kingdom of Heaven was critically panned, and taking into account the production budget, the marketing cost, and the movie theatres' cut, it failed to break even.
Exodus: Gods And Kings (2014) - $140 Million
Between The Last Duel and Kingdom of Heaven, Scott has had a surprising amount of big-budget, box office failures in his career. And that's not even taking into account movies with much smaller budgets that also failed to find audiences. But Exodus: Gods and Kings is easily the darkest point in Scott's career.
It's clear where the movie's $140 million went, as it does feature some of the best uses of CGI and it's visually spectacular, but it was criticized for being bloated, dull, and uninspiring. On top of that, the poor box office performance surely had executives at 20th Century Fox sweating. Exodus did make $268 million worldwide, which means that a lot of people did see it in theatres. But it was quickly forgotten and hardly anybody has ever heard of the film, and Scott would probably rather it stay that way.
Robin Hood (2010) - $237 Million
While Box Office Mojo notes that the 2010 movie had a budget of $200 million, there have been reports that Robin Hood's production cost was actually much higher. According to Vulture, Robin Hood had a budget of $237 million before its tax breaks.
With Scott's very worst big-budget movies, it's still clear where the money went, whether it's the CGI in Exodus or the epic battles in Kingdom of Heaven. But with Robin Hood, there aren't any memorable set pieces or ambitious moments that Scott is generally known for. $237 million is a big price to pay for one of the worst adaptations of the character.