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I was just reading a piece about I am Legend and noticed that one particular scene that was shot on Brooklyn Bridge cost five million dollars.

This piqued my curiosity as to what the most expensive scene ever shot was?

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    It raises the question of whether it's a CG, composite or real shot... you also have to wonder about actor's salaries in here!
    – Liath
    Commented Jul 11, 2013 at 10:33
  • Why the down vote? I think its a valid question.
    – Travis
    Commented Jul 11, 2013 at 12:42
  • @Travis i am not the down-voter or close-voter but answering this will be vary tough and many things are here contribute as a problem, as mentioned by Liath. So that may be the case of down/close-vote
    – Ankit Sharma ♦
    Commented Jul 11, 2013 at 15:35
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    I'm not a fan of this question, because over time the answer to this is going to change with inflation and price hikes and bigger movies.
    – DForck42
    Commented Jul 11, 2013 at 16:18
  • You asked for a scene, but you can start here with movies en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_expensive_films
    – DustinDavis
    Commented Jul 11, 2013 at 16:44

2 Answers 2

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According to this book, Cleopatra's entry into Rome from the 1963 Elizabeth Taylor film is the most expensive scene in motion picture history (that must be assuming that you adjust for inflation).

The scene is on YouTube. As well as the massive set and giant Sphinx the scene required 10,000 extras, Elizabeth Taylor's dress cost $6,500 alone.

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    Even now that scene looks seriously impressive!
    – Liath
    Commented Jul 12, 2013 at 13:27
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    The book source is dead.
    – coleopterist
    Commented Dec 10, 2013 at 12:06
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    So how much did it cost?
    – Octopus
    Commented Jan 8, 2016 at 18:48
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    "This video contains content from Fox, who has blocked it on copyright grounds."
    – Clockwork
    Commented Feb 18, 2021 at 13:43
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Big Screen Rome By Monica Silveira Cyrino evaluates Cleopatra's entry into Rome scene from "Cleopatra" (1963) around 1 million dollars. Even with inflation rate of 711% from 1963 to 2018 it's just around 8.1 million. However, there are several sources (1, 2) that give the first place to Neo vs. Agents Smith in “The Matrix Reloaded” (2003) with 40 million

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  • Perhaps you could explain where you get your inflation percentage,and what made the scene so expensive?
    – Gnemlock
    Commented Jan 18, 2018 at 7:39
  • There are numerous inflation calculators, like this one link It's obviously because of all CGI effects for the scene that have made it so expensive.
    – inmydelorean
    Commented Jan 18, 2018 at 7:48
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    Maybe, but it is possible some have never seen it, so explaining the cost would be pretty helpful. Also, one of your sourcesis just a reprint of the other. It would look better if you just stated your source, instead of using wikipedia-esque number tags
    – Gnemlock
    Commented Jan 18, 2018 at 7:51
  • I don't see two identical articles in these two sources. They have different facts about the same scene so they are not duplicates. There are duplicates that I've not included to the list.
    – inmydelorean
    Commented Jan 18, 2018 at 8:58

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