Which of these was the only movie that initially lost money, despite topping the box-office chart?

In the 21st century, a mega-budget film isn’t really big news. However, back in 1963, the ‘Cleopatra’ budget was shocking and the public was fascinated; it quickly became the hottest movie of the year. While the historical epic starring Elizabeth Taylor cost nowhere near the $300+ million budgets of today's movies, back then, $44 million was a mind-boggling figure.

‘Cleopatra’ had an initial budget of $5 million (with Elizabeth Taylor playing the title role for a record-setting salary of $1 million plus ten percent of the box-office gross) when filming began in September of 1960.

From the start, Taylor's health problems (a cold and sore throat which became a fever then turned into meningitis) delayed filming. After sixteen weeks of filming at a cost of $7 million, the crew had produced only ten minutes of film. Production was suspended. Filming finally resumed in September of 1961 and wrapped in 1962; however further reshoots continued to made into February and March of 1963.

With the production costs alone totaling over $31 million, the film became the most expensive film ever made up to that point and nearly bankrupted the studio.

‘Cleopatra’ did become the highest-grossing film of 1963, eventually earning box-office receipts of $57.8 million (in the U.S. and Canada combined). It was also one of the highest-grossing films of the decade at a worldwide level. However, the film initially lost money due to its production and marketing costs of $44 million.