What makes a movie so expensive?

I've just discovered that the movie, "Pirates of the Carribian" is the most expensive movie shot (excluding the back-to-back Hobbit Trilogy, at $623 million) at an astronomical $378.5 million!

Having this huge budget for a movie makes me wonder why some movies are too expensive to make, yet they all look the same in many aspects.

 

The first thing that makes a movie expensive is the salary of the actors. Talented and big name actors and actresses command top dollar. Some of these people are paid millions upon millions of dollars. Some actors can draw large audiences just because of who they are. Robert Downey, Jr., is at the top of his game right now with the Iron Man and Avengers movies. He's also done other movies such as Sherlock Holmes but as long as people are willing to pay to see him as Iron Man, he'll earn top dollar.

After salaries are paid, the next thing is location. If movies are shot on location at a movie studio, it's far less expensive to produce that movie than one that is being shot at some exotic location such as a jungle in Africa or on the city streets of New York. Offsite filming means flying the cast and all of the support crew to locations where housing needs to be provided along with food and other niceties of life.

 

A movie can be so expensive if the actors and actresses have an expensive talent fees. They are commonly the most popular or the veteran actors. Also, the location of the film can be a factor and the expenses of the essential things needed in the film. It can also be if the director is a very good one. It also depends on the quality of the film.

 

A lot of people don't realise exactly how much a movie cost to make. I mean you would assume it's a lot I would imagine, but like the scale of the universe it's hard to grasp just how much money this things cost.
First of all, cinema cameras cost an incredible amount of money. Most popular digital cameras have a suggested retail price of $80,000 and that's digital. If you are shooting film, you are looking at about $200 to $800 per 11 minutes.
If you want to know why movies really cost so much, all you have to do is watch the end credits. There are so many people who work on these projects. First you have the more obvious ones like the actors, director, director of photography and producers, who are very expensive.
There is also other departments involved, like the light and sound department, carpenters who build the sets, prop builders, transportation to get everything there and you need extras to walk around in the background.
You need costume and production designers, makeup artist and not forgeting the higher up people in charge of logistics, hiring everyone and finding all the different services needed.