Universal overtakes Disney with $658.8m Dominion price tag

Universal’s $658.8 – Universal’s “Jurassic World: Dominion” has been reported as Hollywood’s most expensive movie of all time, with total production spending of $658.8 million—surpassing Disney’s “The Force Awakens.” The leap came during a pandemic shoot in 2020, followed by a del

When “Jurassic World: Dominion” was finally released in June 2022, the number chasing it had already started to grow—through a pandemic production in 2020, months of delays, and a bill that ultimately landed at $658.8 million.

That figure. pulled from recently filed financial statements. puts Universal Pictures at the top of Hollywood’s budget leaderboard. beating Disney’s long-held record. Universal’s spending on “Jurassic World: Dominion” surpasses Disney’s 2015 “Star Wars” reboot “The Force Awakens,” which cost $638.9 million.

“Dominion” was the third film in Universal’s “Jurassic World” series and it brought stars Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt together with Lara Dern, Jeff Goldblum, and Sam Neill, who headlined the original “Jurassic Park” trilogy.

The budget didn’t just reflect the scale of the production. Filming began at the peak of the pandemic in 2020, when Universal had to adopt costly safety protocols. Then came delays—months of them—that pushed the movie’s premiere back by a year to June 2022.

Keeping a film “ready” during downtime turned out to be expensive. Studios had to continue paying for soundstages and leased equipment that couldn’t simply be returned without risking losing access to the window when production restarted. Security costs kept rising as some security staff had to be paid to watch over sets. Higher-level producers and department heads also had to be kept available as the pandemic receded.

The cost pressure didn’t let up when the cast went into quarantine. During a five-month quarantine period, the A-list cast didn’t work in the usual sense. The stars were holed up in Marriott’s opulent Langley Hotel in the U.K. near where “Dominion” was filmed at the historic Pinewood Studios. The Langley’s wood-panelled lounge is home to an elegant piano that appeared in viral social media videos during lockdown. with Jeff Goldblum playing old-school jazz songs while Sam Neill sang alongside him. Rooms at the hotel cost more than $600 a night—high enough. the filings suggest. to impact Universal’s bottom line for the film.

A big reason the number can be pinned down now is the way U.S. and U.K. disclosures work. The exact cost of making movies in the U.S. is usually closely guarded. While a “budget” may leak. fully itemized costs are combined in disclosures to the SEC. which means individual movie figures are not always separated.

In the U.K., the accounting works differently for films like “Dominion” and “The Force Awakens,” because both movies were made there.

Studios filming in the U.K. can benefit from the government’s Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit (AVEC). which provides cash reimbursement of up to 25.5% of the money they spend in the country. But the reimbursement comes with requirements. A movie must pass a points test proving its worth to the U.K. with the score based on factors including how many of the lead actors are from the U.K. the amount of U.K. content, and how much filming was done in the U.K.

That structure helps explain where “Dominion” shot scenes. The film’s points were supported by filming in the woods of south-east England. and by Wolfson College at Oxford University doubling for the headquarters of the Biosyn Corporation that cloned some of the dinosaurs in the movie. The points tally was also helped by the presence of British actress Isabella Sermon. who plays the cloned girl at the heart of the story.

There’s another requirement: at least 10% of the core costs of the production must be incurred in the U.K. To demonstrate that, studios set up a separate Film Production Company (FPC) for each picture. These FPCs file financial statements that lay out details ranging from headcount and social security payments to the amount of reimbursement banked by the studio and the total cost of production. Working through the paperwork takes “a bit of detective work. ” because the numbers are not handed out like a press release.

To keep fans from spotting what’s being filmed where, the FPCs usually have code names. “Dominion” was made by Universal’s subsidiary Arcadia Pictures. named after a rescue ship that carried the dinosaurs to safety in the previous film. “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. ” which was also shot in the U.K.. The FPC behind “Fallen Kingdom” was called Ancient Futures, a nod to the cloning process that created the creatures.

The statements don’t always arrive at once. They are filed in stages—starting during pre-production and continuing long after the premiere—to give the company time to gather bills and receive money.

For Arcadia Pictures, the latest set of documents were filed this year and cover the year to December 31, 2024. They show that during that period the company’s costs came to $74.9 million (£59.6 million), bringing the total to $658.8 million.

One of the biggest single costs was staff pay. The staff count peaked at an average of 454 monthly employees. That figure doesn’t include freelancers. contractors. and temporary staff; they aren’t listed on the books of British companies even though they often represent the majority of workers on a film shoot. Universal paid $36.2 million (£27.5 million) to staff working on “Dominion,” on top of spending on U.K. services such as security, equipment hire, transport, and catering.

The reimbursement figure is where the budget story becomes a different one. The AVEC cash reimbursement came to a total of $127.8 million (£99.5 million), bringing Universal’s net outlay on the movie down to $531 million.

Then the revenue question enters. The amount theaters pay to studios is called a rental fee, commonly described as a 50-50 split. If that split applies, Universal would receive $500 million from “Dominion’s” box office haul of almost precisely $1 billion. After deducting Universal’s $531 million net outlay, that math points to a small loss on its theatrical run.

But box office isn’t the only line on a studio ledger. “Dominion” also generates revenue from Blu Ray and streaming sales, along with merchandise.

Universal’s filings place “Dominion” at the top of cost across its three latest “Jurassic World” films. “Fallen Kingdom” cost $606.3 million, while “Jurassic World Rebirth,” released last year, cost $254.2 million. Their combined $262.1 million reimbursement brought Universal’s net outlay on them down to $1.3 billion. With their $1.6 billion share of the box office, Universal was left with a $300 million profit. Without the reimbursement, the profit picture would have been much closer to zero.

A sequel to “Rebirth” is in development. Given how much money Universal has received from the U.K., filming there appears likely to return.

Universal isn’t alone in benefiting. The latest data from the British Film Institute (BFI) says spending on feature film production in the U.K. rose 31% to a record $3.8 billion (£2.8 billion) last year. in part because the reimbursement scheme plugs a gap when ticket sales remain below pre-pandemic heights. Industry experts Gower Street Analytics forecast worldwide box office takings will hit $34.7 billion this year, 18% less than the peak in 2019.

The money has also helped make the U.K. a hub for Hollywood studios: Disney has a long-term deal with Pinewood, while arch-rivals Amazon and Netflix have taken up residence in nearby Shepperton.

That arrangement now faces an uncertain future. If President Trump follows through, the deals could be disrupted. In May last year, Trump announced that a 100% tariff would be applied to movies entering the U.S. that are produced in “foreign lands.” He framed it as a way to bring filmmaking back to the U.S. Five months after that initial announcement. he wrote on social media that “in order to solve this long time. never ending problem. I will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any and all movies that are made outside of the United States.”.

The policy has yet to be enacted. But if it were—leaving studios without U.K. financing support—the filings suggest “Jurassic World: Dominion” could remain the king of the movie budget rankings for years.

That’s the sharpest twist hiding behind one headline number. The most expensive film didn’t become an all-time budget record only because it was big. It became one because the world around it—pandemic reality. delayed timetables. and the economics of government reimbursement—kept making the bill grow until the final filings could no longer hide it.

Universal Pictures Jurassic World: Dominion most expensive movie AVEC Pinewood Studios Arcadia Pictures Jurassic World franchise Star Wars: The Force Awakens Hollywood budgets British Film Institute Gower Street Analytics Trump tariff