As of March 17, 2018, and adjusted for inflation, which film was the most expensive ever made?

“Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” cost a reported $378.5 million which, adjusted for inflation using the US Consumer Price Index, is $412 million. Besides, without adjusting for inflation, the 2011 film’s “nominal” price tag still tops the “Most Expensive Films” list, besting 2007’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” by 78.5 million. “On Stranger Tides” was the fourth film in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” series, the sequel to “At World’s End”.

All costs on the list are either as stated by the production company that made the film or estimated, in cases where the production costs were not revealed or are in question. These are “negative costs”, that is, they do not include promotion, advertising, and other factors not directly associated with making the film.

The Soviet Union’s “War and Peace”, which was released in four parts during 1966 and 1967, was touted as costing $100 million. Adjusted for inflation, that cost is nearly $700 million; however, financial records indicate an actual cost of a bit more than $9 million, which is about $60 million to $70 million, when adjusted. All films on the list cost at least $200 million, before inflation adjustment.

The 1927 Fritz Lang masterpiece, “Metropolis”, is occasionally said to have an adjusted cost of $200 million. But, according to the German Consumer Price Index, the reported cost of between $1.2 million and $1.3 million, adjusted to 2009 dollars, is approximately $24 million.