The 15 Biggest-Budget Movies and TV Shows of 2026

15. Michael – $155 million

A Michael Jackson biopic only works if it feels like a lived-in time machine, and that kind of period precision doesn’t come cheap. Michael is built around recreating massive, instantly recognizable moments – stadium-scale performances, music-video-era styling, and the kind of choreography that has to look effortless even when it isn’t. The film’s scope also suggests a story that isn’t rushing through the “big hits” but actually staging them with the weight they had in real life. Casting and performance capture a lot of attention here, but the real budget-eater is the spectacle: costumes, crowd work, camera rigs, and the endless take-after-take perfectionism that this subject almost demands. With $155 million on the line, it’s aiming to be both a crowd-pleaser and an awards-season contender, which is a tricky tightrope for any music biopic. | © Lionsgate

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14. House of the Dragon (Season 3) – $160 million

Dragons are expensive even when they’re fictional, and this show makes sure you never forget it. Season 3 of House of the Dragon is expected to keep leaning into the series’ big advantage: it can pivot from quiet court paranoia to all-out war without changing the tone. That scale doesn’t just mean more fire in the sky – it means more complicated battle choreography, more VFX shots that can’t look “TV,” and more time spent making every banner, armor plate, and castle corridor feel hand-forged. The cast is huge, the politics are messy, and the story is marching toward conflict that demands spectacle, not suggestion. When a single dragon sequence can balloon into months of work, $160 million starts to look less like excess and more like the price of keeping the illusion unbroken. | © HBO

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13. Lanterns – $160 million

If you’re going to make a Green Lantern project that feels grounded, you still have to pay for the impossible. Lanterns is positioned as a prestige-style series that can play like a mystery while quietly carrying the weight of a much bigger universe on its back. That’s a costly blend: you need the gritty, real-world textures – locations, practical sets, convincing action – while also delivering power constructs, alien tech, and cosmic-scale visuals that can’t look like a cutscene. The trick will be making the ring powers feel specific and character-driven instead of random light-show chaos, because “anything is possible” is only cool when it still has rules. At $160 million, the show is clearly being treated like a cornerstone, not a side quest, and the production is priced accordingly. | © HBO

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12. The Mandalorian & Grogu – $166 million

Taking a Disney+ phenomenon to theaters changes the expectations instantly: it can’t just feel like a long episode, it has to feel like an event. The Mandalorian & Grogu has the advantage of a beloved duo and a visual language audiences already trust, but the movie scale demands bigger set pieces, denser action, and the kind of cinematic polish that holds up on the largest screen in the building. A lot of the cost is in the “invisible” work – creature effects, ship sequences, digital environments, and the pipeline needed to keep Star Wars texture-rich instead of overly glossy. Grogu’s charm is easy; integrating him into high-stakes spectacle without losing that charm is the real technical challenge. With $166 million behind it, this looks like Lucasfilm doubling down on theatrical Star Wars momentum without abandoning what made the series click. | © Disney

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11. One Piece (Season 2) – $170 million

Live-action pirates are fun until you remember you have to build the ships, the islands, and the physics-defying powers, then make it all feel cohesive. Season 2 of One Piece is stepping into bigger, stranger territory, which usually means a sharp jump in costs: new locations, more characters, heavier stunt work, and Devil Fruit abilities that can’t look rubbery or cheap. The show’s biggest flex is that it treats its world seriously even when it’s being ridiculous, and that commitment requires real craftsmanship – sets you can touch, costumes that look worn-in, and VFX that support the actors instead of swallowing them. The $170 million price tag suggests Netflix is betting that the first season’s goodwill wasn’t a fluke, and that audiences will follow the Straw Hats into weirder waters as long as the production keeps matching the imagination. | © Netflix

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10. Project Hail Mary – $175 million

Space movies get pricey fast when the camera can’t “cheat” the environment, and this one lives or dies on making the impossible feel tactile. Adapted from Andy Weir’s novel, Project Hail Mary drops a lone astronaut into a nightmare scenario: he wakes up light-years from home with no memory, and a mission that basically decides Earth’s future. That setup demands massive practical builds (ship interiors, tech, training sequences) plus the kind of VFX work that has to be invisible, not flashy. It’s also the sort of story where the emotional beats matter as much as the cosmic ones, so every set piece needs to serve character – not just scale. Ryan Gosling in the middle of that pressure-cooker is the selling point; the production’s job is to make you believe the stakes without blinking. | © Amazon MGM Studios

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9. Monarch (Season 2) – $200 million

A kaiju series that wants to feel like prestige TV has to do a constant balancing act: keep the human drama sharp while still delivering “how did they afford that?” monster moments. Season 2 of Monarch leans into the Monsterverse idea that the real threat isn’t just Titans – it’s what people do when the world stops making sense. That means expensive location work, sprawling sets for secret facilities, and effects-heavy sequences that can’t look like a cutaway tease. The show also plays across different timelines, which quietly adds cost in wardrobe, production design, and sheer logistics. When you’re staging a scale this big and still trying to land quieter, paranoid-thriller scenes, the money goes into consistency: the world has to feel real whether the camera’s on a hallway argument or a shoreline catastrophe. | © Legendary Television

8. Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew – $200 million

Origin stories usually sound safe on paper, but this one is basically the “big bang” of a fantasy universe, and that’s a visual effects invoice waiting to happen. Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew isn’t about revisiting familiar landmarks – it’s about watching a world come into existence, with all the strange in-between spaces and creature-heavy mythology that implies. The appeal is the contrast: ordinary reality brushing up against something cosmic, then spiraling into a place where rules are rewritten. That kind of scope demands brand-new environments, elaborate creature work, and set design that can sell wonder without looking plastic. If this lands, it won’t feel like a prequel that’s doing homework – it’ll feel like the moment the whole franchise’s imagination switches on. | © Netflix

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7. Bridgerton (Season 4) – $217 million

If you’ve ever watched a ballroom scene and thought, “Surely they didn’t build all that,” Bridgerton is the show that answers, “Actually, yes.” Season 4 has the same core engine – romance with a sharp edge – but the production has to keep topping itself with bigger sets, denser crowd scenes, and costumes that don’t just look expensive, they look lived-in. Period series burn money in a thousand small ways: carriages, location control, meticulous set dressing, music, choreography, and the sheer time it takes to make every frame feel curated. The trick is that none of it can feel like a museum; the vibe has to stay flirtatious and modern even when the visuals are obsessively old-world. That’s where the budget really goes: polish, not just opulence. | © Shondaland

6. Dune: Messiah – $220 million

The next chapter of Denis Villeneuve’s saga isn’t built for casual viewing – it’s the kind of blockbuster that wants you locked into the atmosphere, sand in your teeth and politics in your bloodstream. While the story draws from Dune Messiah (the second book of six in the series) , the film itself has been positioned as the trilogy’s closing statement, which usually means bigger everything: larger-scale sequences, more complex world-building, and a heavier emphasis on the consequences of power. The cost isn’t only in the spectacle; it’s in making Arrakis feel physically oppressive and culturally specific in every corner of the frame. Massive locations, intricate costumes, and effects that have to blend seamlessly with natural light are the baseline, not the flex. When a sci-fi epic is this committed to texture and scale, the budget isn’t just spending – it’s world maintenance. | © Legendary Pictures

5. The Odyssey – $250 million

A story this old doesn’t get a $250 million check unless the plan is to make it feel brand new on a massive screen. The trick with The Odyssey is scale with variety: seas, monsters, strange islands, gods, battles, and long stretches of survival that can’t all look like the same “dark blue CGI ocean” set piece. That kind of scope usually means huge builds, heavy location work, and effects that have to blend into sunlight and salt spray instead of screaming “green screen.” There’s also a tone challenge here – mythic and intimate in the same breath – because Odysseus isn’t just fighting creatures, he’s fighting time, pride, and exhaustion. If this adaptation nails the sense of relentless forward motion, the budget won’t just be visible; it’ll feel like momentum. | © Universal Pictures

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4. Moana (live-action) – $250 million

Turning a modern animated classic into live-action gets expensive the second you promise the ocean will feel like a character again. The live-action Moana isn’t just about recreating iconic moments; it has to sell real water, real weather, and real physical danger while still keeping that warm, musical-adventure energy intact. Every “simple” scene becomes a technical puzzle – boats, waves, island vistas, and magical elements that can’t drift into uncanny territory. And because audiences already know the songs and story beats, the visuals can’t be “close enough”; they have to feel like a step up in texture and scale. At $250 million, this is clearly aiming for a theatrical spectacle that looks sun-drenched and huge, not a safer small-screen imitation. | © Walt Disney Pictures

3. Toy Story 5 – $250 million

Sequels in animation don’t cost this much unless someone is chasing a new visual benchmark, not just another reunion. Toy Story 5 has the advantage of characters people treat like family, but the pressure is on to justify returning to that world with more than nostalgia and catchphrases. A budget this high suggests detail-heavy environments, ambitious lighting, and animation that pushes beyond “plastic toys in a kid’s room” into richer, more complex settings – without losing the grounded, emotional simplicity that made the series work. The other challenge is tonal: funny, fast, and heartfelt, but never syrupy, and never so busy that the characters get swallowed by spectacle. If it hits, it’ll feel effortless – which is usually the most expensive illusion of all. | © Pixar Animation Studios

2. Spider-Man: Brand New Day – $275 million

When Spider-Man money gets this big, the expectation isn’t just bigger swings – it’s bigger consequences. Spider-Man: Brand New Day sounds like the kind of movie that wants to reframe Peter Parker’s life and then immediately stress-test that new status quo with set pieces designed for IMAX screens. A $275 million budget points to high-end action choreography, dense VFX shots that still have to feel physical, and that signature Spider-Man speed where the camera never stops moving. But the make-or-break part is always the same: if the emotional spine isn’t strong, the spectacle turns into noise. The best Spidey films make the city feel alive, then make it personal – this one looks priced to do both at full volume. | © Marvel Studios

1. Avengers: Doomsday – $450 million

A $450 million budget is the kind of number that basically dares you to imagine the scale before you even see a trailer. If Avengers: Doomsday is aiming to be the next true MCU “event” movie, that price tag makes sense: massive ensemble cast logistics, multiple worlds’ worth of environments, and action sequences that have to escalate without turning into a grey blur of pixels. These films also spend money on control – keeping tone consistent across characters, making every power set look distinct, and staging battles where you can actually track who’s doing what. The real challenge is narrative weight: audiences expect spectacle, sure, but they also want the feeling that choices matter and the fallout sticks. When you’re spending at this level, the goal isn’t just bigger – it’s unforgettable. | © Jesse Grant