The Dark Knight - A $500,000 IMAX camera
Something about Christopher Nolan’s relationship with IMAX cameras doesn’t seem to be great, since he kept destroying them while filming for The Dark Knight. In a scene from the 2008 legendary film, the Joker and his entire gang manage to trap a S.W.A.T escort pretty tightly.
They proceed to destroy a police helicopter and a bunch of vans, which were caught swiftly by kinetic camera movements. Unfortunately, though, one of these cameras, an IMAX one, was destroyed in the midst of the chaos, resulting in a $500,000 loss.
The Dark Knight Rises - One More $500,000 IMAX camera
As we said, that wouldn't be the first time that Nolan would go ahead and destroy an absurdly expensive camera. During the production of the 2012 film, The Dark Knight Rises, another really expensive camera was completely destroyed.
During an insane scene where Catwoman is riding down the steps of Gotham City Hall on a motorcycle, she ends up driving straight into an IMAX camera. The entire ordeal is caught in behind-the-scenes cellphone footage and it’s seriously heartbreaking.
The Sacrifice - An Entire House Burnt Down
Okay, so destroying an IMAX camera is certainly heartbreaking, but destroying an entire house probably takes the cake, and that’s exactly what happened during the filming of the 1986 film The Sacrifice.
A behind-the-scenes video captures the moment when an entire house was completely burnt down, showing the instant when the whole crew, including Andrei Tarkovsky himself, realize what is happening. Later on, the house ends up being rebuilt, costing a whole bunch of money that they hadn’t budgeted for.
Battlestar Galactica - Model Ship Destruction
When Battlestar Galactica was released in 2004, the film became a huge hit amongst the sci-fi community. The series aired for four seasons, but the crew experienced a pretty expensive blooper during the filming of season 3.
During the episode named “Maelstrom", Admiral Adama finds himself with an ancient model ship in his office. Edward James Olmos, the actor who plays Adama, accidentally destroys the model while acting in the scene. No doubt he was proud of his performance but that quickly changed to sadness when he found out that he had just smashed $200,000.
Skyfall - A Pair Of Gloves
In the 2012 Bond Movie Skyfall, Daniel Craig makes a terrible mistake. In the movie James Bond is given a biometric gun, meaning that it will only fire after it has identified its owner's fingerprints - in this case, Bond's.
However, during a shooting scene that takes place in a cold building, Craig insisted that he wear his gloves so that his digits stay warm. The director allowed him to do so, and they filmed the scene with the gun without anyone realizing that it wouldn't work since the gun wouldn't have been able to scan for fingerprints. The studio then had to go back and CGI over Craig's hands in a process that probably costs thousands of dollars and hours to complete.
Incident In A Ghostland - A Forever Scar
Horror movies are known to involve quite a bit of violence here and there, either toward one character consistently or towards many characters throughout the entire movie. Incident in a Ghost Land was no exception.
During a stunt, actress Taylor Hickson slams through a glass door, resulting in some really bad damage to her face. The failed stunt resulted in a huge cut in her cheek that left her with a permanent scar. Hickson later sued the film company for using the wrong type of glass and for being involved in the injury.
Iron Man 3 - A Major Injury Slowed Down Production
No matter how experienced a film crew might be, people are still prone to making mistakes, and Iron Man 3 was no different. During the shooting for the film, the movie’s star, Robert Downey Jr., injured himself pretty badly while filming an action sequence.
At one point Downey Jr. was supposed to jump from one platform down to another while attached to a cable. The crew actually wanted him to rehearse this first but he refused saying, "I don't need to rehearse it." Turns out that was quite the mistake. The actor landed incorrectly and ended up breaking his ankle, this resulting in Doney Jr. having to take about six weeks off to recover, halting production to a complete standstill and costing the company a fortune.
Seven - Brad Pitt Cut His Tendons
The mystery thriller film Seven features a serial assassin who runs around a city punishing people. The movie can be difficult to watch for some, especially since the villain murders his victims in some truly brutal ways.
The police detective attempting to hunt him is played by Brad Pitt, who accidentally slips and runs into a car windshield while filming a scene. The accident resulted in a bloody hand with cut tendons for both the character and the actor that ended up having to be written into the script.
Skyfall - The Studio Department Failed To Put Captions On Songs For Deaf People
Throughout the production of Skyfall, there was a studio department appointed to add the closed captions for deaf people and those hard of hearing.
This department completely failed though, as several viewers put their complaints forward after the movie was released with a lack of captions whenever the film played any type of music. Deaf people were left wondering if there was anything being said during those scenes, which likely made them really angry.
Hateful Eight - A Guitar Was Destroyed
The Tarantino western film, The Hateful Eight, features Jennifer Jason Leigh and Kurt Russel and, like all movies on this list, the film makes a terrible mistake at some point. Leigh had to learn to play guitar for that specific role, which was the same guitar she used in the film.
The guitar was special though, it was a 19th century Martin guitar that Russel ended up taking and smashing during a scene, with the intent of making Leigh stop playing. The vintage guitar was worth around $40,000, which devastated Russel after he found out.
American Sniper - An Obviously Fake Baby
While we would easily think that using a fake baby would most probably save a film studio some money, it doesn’t seem like this was the case of the military drama American Sniper.
During a scene, Bradley Cooper picks up his baby, but audience members easily see that what he’s holding is actually a doll. To make things worse, the production used CGI to make the fake baby’s hand move, but its entire arm went completely limp once Cooper held it, resulting in a sad and hilarious fail coupled with all the wasted money thrown at the CGI department.
Jack Reacher - 50 Times Kicking A Guy In The Groin
This one may be pretty funny actually. In Jack Reacher, Tom Cruise decided to do most of his own stunts, just like he usually does. In one specific scene, he was supposed to kick another man in the groin, but filmmakers made Cruise shoot the scene about 50 times.
Funny enough, it wasn’t even the poor guy being kicked who asked to stop filming, it was Cruise who ended up claiming that his feet were hurting too much. Maybe next time they'll just hire a stuntman who can save them some film.
Proud Mary - A Completely Smashed Car
Cars are usually expensive props by default when they’re used in movies, especially if they’re about to be a part of any sort of complicated stunts.
In the action-thriller Proud Mary released in 2018, actress Taraji P. Henson plays a hitwoman who works for a gangster family from Boston. In the film, Henson drives an expensive Maserati sports car, which sadly, she drives straight into a fire hydrant, costing around $12,000 in damage.
Apocalypse Now - An Entire Village Had To Be Replaced
The war movie Apocalypse Now was directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who insisted that the movie had to take place in the Philippines. Everyone had to be flown out, and set designers were asked to build an entire village in the Philippines, instead of building it in a Hollywood studio like they were used to.
Unfortunately, a typhoon hit not too long after, which caused major damage in the village, which ended up taking about $1.5 million to rebuild.
Transformers: Age of Extinction - Lots Of Green Screens
It’s not a secret that every single Transformers movie took quite a bit of money to make. The films feature huge robots created and controlled through CGI, which is not a cheap technology.
In Transformers: Age of Extinction though, there wasn’t really that much money left in the budget. So some CGI effects had to be left out, resulting in one scene where the green screens were actually left green in the final cut.
Quantum of Solace - A Black Eye For The Win
Throughout all of his spy movies, James Bond gets into some pretty heated fights. On the set of the Quantum of Solace, Daniel Craig, who plays Bond, got really beat up in a scene. This on-screen beat up wasn't like what the professional actor was used to though.
The scene got pretty intense, and it resulted in the actor having several cuts and even a black eye on his face. But because filming had to continue, his face had to be “fixed” with tons of makeup.
Toy Story - They Use The Wrong Baby Monitor
Animated films are not very cheap to put together, but many of them are totally worth it, and Toy Story definitely fits that category. Believe it or not, though, some scenes take several months to complete, which makes mistakes really expensive bumps on the road.
The 1995 Disney Pixar film had a bit of an error when the baby monitor the toy soldiers were using during Andy’s party was actually a monitor that records nose. Not many people picked that up though.
Resident Evil - The Script Had To Be Reworked
When the Resident Evil franchise began being worked on, filmmakers made quite a number of mistakes. One of these mistakes included the character Alice, which was played by Milla Jovovich, who had lines that were incredibly similar to the character Rain.
Jovovich wasn’t happy at all with this and said that if they didn’t change the script she would not take part in the film. Since both options would turn out to be really expensive, they decided to rewrite almost the entire script, which was also extremely pricey.
Gladiator - Everything From Planes To Canisters Failed Quite A Bit
Gladiator was one of those huge hits when it came out, but fans hardly know the amount of hard work and high costs it took to create it. The movie ended up coming out with certain mistakes that might have been noticed, but the film crew made the decision to not reshoot them.
For example, in one scene where a chariot falls over, anyone can see the modern gas canisters showing off just what was used to make the crazy effect. In another scene, an airplane is flying behind Maximus’s head during a big scene, yet, the crew decided to leave it in.
Mission: Impossible – Fallout - Tom Cruise Breaks His Ankle
It’s quite known that Tom Cruise loves doing his own stunts, but that comes with some dangerous consequences. In one scene in Mission: Impossible – Fallout, the actor was jumping from one building to the other when he suddenly fell and completely shattered his ankle.
He had to be out of filming for months in order to recover from the bad injury, which cost tons of money. The good news is that at least the scene made it to the movie.
The Goonies - A Giant Octopus
The children's adventure film Goonies was released in 1985, starring a group of kids who go on an adventurous journey looking for treasure. Their aim is to save their houses from some pretty greedy and mean business developers, who will do anything to take their houses away.
The group of kids eventually manages to find the treasure, but barely escapes the situation. In an interview with one of the kids, he mentions that the group had to fight a giant octopus, but doesn’t realize that the huge scene had actually been cut from the final edit.
Salt - Filming While Being Injured
Right at the beginning of the 2010s, Angelina Jolie started the year with her role in Salt, where she played a CIA agent on the run. The film had many stunts, and just like Tom Cruise, Jolie enjoys doing her own stunts.
Unfortunately, in one specific scene that took place in New York, she ended up suffering a terrible knock in the head that resulted in the crew having to stop filming for a few weeks.
Justice League - Henry Cavill’s Moustache Had To Be Edited
After Henry Cavill wrapped his role in Justice League he immediately started another project. Since he thought that he wouldn’t have to play Superman for quite a while, he decided to grow a mustache for his role in Mission Impossible - Fallout.
But when Justice League needed the actor to reshoot a few scenes, they were basically forced to use some pretty intensive CGI to edit the mustache out.
Thor: Ragnarok - A Very Expensive Wig
Marvel fans probably remember as if it was today, that one time that Valkyrie joined the crew of Thor: Ragnarok, played by Tessa Thompson. What people might not know though, is that the actress made a mistake during filming that cost $10,000.
Towards the end of filming for Thor, she dyed her hair orange for her role in Sorry to Bother You. When she was brought back to reshoot some scenes for Thor, she had to wear a really expensive wig to cover it all up.
Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle - People Disapproved Of Karen Gillan’s Costume
After showcasing her incredible talent in Guardians of the Galaxy and the Avengers films, Karen Gillian became one of the most known actresses in Hollywood.
While starring in the Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, which made more than $750 million after being released in 2017, not many people approved of the costume that film producers made Gillian wear. Apparently, people believed the costume was unnecessarily revealing, which almost cost the film a large part of its audience.
The Avengers - A Prop Caught Fire
For those who don’t know, before Marvel’s Avengers became a world phenomenon, there was another spy action movie with the same name released in 1998. The film starred Uma Thurman and Ralph Fiennes, who teamed up to fight against the villain who wanted to destroy the world by using a weather machine.
During a scene that featured an explosion though, things got a little out of control and the movie studio literally caught fire. At least $1.6 million worth of sets were destroyed that day.
Frozen - Levitating Shadows
When Frozen was released in 2013, the animation film completely took the Disney world by storm (and still does). And though the movie has become a sort of a cult with its creative songs and plot, it did have a couple of mistakes.
In a specific scene where Anna and her companion start dancing in the lighthouse, if you pay attention, you’ll see their shadows sort of levitating, which makes an impression that the floor under them disappears.
Smokey And The Bandit II - A Completely Messed Up Dialogue
After his performance in the first Smokey and the Bandit, everyone loved Burt Reynolds. But when he was asked to return to the sequel, things didn’t go so well.
Reynold made way too many mistakes during different dialogues, which cost the movie tons of money. The crew had to keep rebooting and resetting scenes so that Reynolds could get the dialogue correct.
The Crow - Brandon Lee Is Shot During Filming
An incredibly tragic accident took place in the set of The Crow, one that no one was expecting and that ended up taking the life of Brandon Lee.
The crew added a dummy round to the prop gun that was to be used for one scene, which ended up acting like a real bullet when it was fired. Though many attempts were made to revive the actor, he eventually succumbed to his injuries.
The Lion King - Simba’s Eye Color Changes
The Lion King is easily one of the most loved animated films of all time, but even the best movie ever has its own flaws.
There were many small mistakes throughout the movie, but perhaps one of the most prominent ones was how Simba’s eye color changed from yellow to white depending on which scene he was featured in. Nala’s eye color also changed every now and then, but barely anyone noticed it.
The Godfather - Many Injuries On Set
The legendary film, The Godfather had a number of mishaps that many fans have never heard of. One of the biggest ones involves Al Pacino’s injury during a stunt he did while jumping onto a car.
The accident resulted in the actor needing to wear crutches and a wheelchair for a while. In order to accommodate the situation, filmmakers had to change the schedule of the entire film.
Roar - Lions Make An Attack
Roar (1981) is undeniably one of the most dangerous films ever made in history. The movie featured a few actors and too many lions. There was a tiny problem though, the lions apparently continuously attacked the actors!
That resulted in many hospital bills every time a crew member was attacked, which sadly for them, made the film go $17 million over budget. Imagine working on a set where you're literally attacked by lions every day!
Back To The Future - A Huge Recast
It’s really hard to imagine Back to the Future without the one and only Michael J. Fox’s voice, but believe it or not, there was one other actor that had been cast for the role of Marty McFly.
Eric Stoltz spent an entire five weeks filming for the movie when the director decided that he wasn’t what he was looking for in the lead character. That resulted in both Marty and his girlfriend, Jennifer, being recast.
The Lego Batman Movie - Items Misplaced Everywhere
The Lego Batman Movie was very well-received by fans, but it also got some criticisms for its badly placed items and other issues. Unfortunately, when mistakes such as these ones take place in animated films, they come at an enormous price.
Some specific mistakes included the scenes where Batman lands during a fall, or when some pictures were placed weirdly on a wall and then moved between scenes.
Braveheart - The Background Looked Funny
Braveheart has become one of those classics with a pretty massive fan base.
Unfortunately, though, the film has also come under a lot of criticism for its randomly placed props, its lack of historical accuracy, and of course, its modern-looking people appearing in the background. In one scene, in particular, you can actually see a car behind the men, making us believe that they simply decided not to cut these mistakes.
The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus - An Incredibly Tragic Loss
The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus was another film that sadly experienced the tragic loss of an actor’s life. After Heath Ledger gave a stunning performance as the Joker, fans couldn’t wait to see what he was about to do next.
The actor was right in the middle of filming The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus when the news that he had tragically died broke. While filmmakers weren’t sure about what to do, they decided to hire three different A-list actors to play a few versions of Ledger’s character.
The Mummy - Too Many Demands
When fans found out that Tom Cruise had been cast in The Mummy’s newest reboot, no one could wait to see the final product. Apparently, though, Cruise wasn’t so kind to everyone else on set and kept demanding tons of changes to the script.
One of these demands included being given more screen time, which the movie’s directors and writers ended up giving into. That turned out to be a mistake, with critics hating the changes in the end.
Wanted - A Sequel Was Not Allowed
After casting Angelina Jolie for the movie Wanted, filmmakers were almost sure that they could begin preparing for a franchise since the film had everything to be successful.
Sadly for them though, Jolie wasn’t interested in making more Wanted movies, and actually demanded that the filmmakers kill her off at the end of the movie, yikes! That probably resulted in them losing a whole bunch of money.
Men In Black 3 - Many Requests From The Movie Stars
There are many famous people out there who are specifically known for making ridiculous requests on set.
Will Smith has been pointed to as one of these people. When he returned to shoot Men In Black 3, the actor ended up costing a lot of money to the crew due to his requests. The biggest one was probably his ask for a $2 million trailer on set, with a private room for movie screenings and two bedrooms.
The Island Of Dr. Moreau - The Turnover Was Huge
The entire process of filming The Island of Dr. Moreau was a bit of a disaster. In fact, things got so bad that the original director for the film, Stanley Wills, decided to quit and was replaced with Val Kilmer.
Then, Rob Morrow was temporarily added to the crew as an actor, but his relationship with Kilmer was so bad that he ended up quitting two days later. The studio continued to fire more people and instead of taking six weeks to film, it took six months and a loss of $14 million.
Some Like It Hot - Difficult Casting Choices
Marilyn Monroe was one of the most popular women in Hollywood back in the '50s. So she was a natural choice for the film Some Like It Hot.
Unfortunately, though, the director and her fellow actors ended up regretting this choice, since the star was apparently really difficult to work with. She was often late to set, constantly forgot her lines, and made many other mistakes that resulted in a much bigger budget.
Avengers: Age Of Ultron - Covering Scarlett Johanson’s Pregnancy
When the crew began filming Avengers: Age of Ultron, Scarlett Johanson was already pregnant. That ended up adding quite a few expenses to an already incredibly expensive film.
For example, the order of many scenes had to be rearranged so that her tight leather uniform would be shot before she started showing. Naturally, all of her action scenes were done by a stunt double and several stand-ins.
The Horror Of Party Beach - An Unnecessary Motorcycle Crash
There is no other way to put this, The Horror Of Party Beach is a weird movie. The story involves a beach party that is invaded by fish monsters and goes on and on to confuse viewers. This is not all though.
In one scene that involved a group of motorcyclists, one of the bikers felt left behind and cut the line resulting in a terrible crash that injured numerous cast members.
There Will Be Blood - Paul Dano Had To Step In
Actor Paul Dano wasn’t supposed to be in There Will Be Blood at first, he actually stepped in to replace Kel O’Neill. It seemed like the film’s director, O’Neill, and actor Daniel Day-Lewis were involved in a fuming creative argument, which resulted in O’Neill having to be replaced.
Though the replacement ended up working out, it did cost quite a few thousands of extra dollars.
The Matrix Reloaded - A Very Sad Goodbye
Many fans might not be aware of this one, but pop singer Aaliyah actually did quite a bit of filming for The Matrix Reloaded. She was playing the role of Zee Link’s wife when she tragically passed away.
The filmmakers didn’t have any other choice but to replace her with Nona Gaye, the famous daughter of Marvin Gaye. Everyone was completely taken aback by the loss which also contributed to the difficulties in making the film.
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service - The Departure Of Sean Connery
To this date, Sean Connery is still considered one of the greatest James Bonds’ of all time. That is why when the actor decided it was time to leave the franchise, the company lost a whole bunch of money.
They replaced him with George Lazenby, which ended up not being so great for the box office. Roger Moore eventually joined the crew and the series got completely rejuvenated.
Armour of God - Jackie Chan Had Too Much Fun
While we have mostly taken a look at some pretty difficult bloopers and mistakes, Jackie Chan has shown us that not all is bad. The actor is known to get super reckless during his post-film bloopers, engaging in every crazy stunt you can think of just to wow his fans and viewers at home.
Unfortunately, though, the actor got injured in one particular scene during Armour of God’s blooper reels, which resulted in him having a huge hole in his head.
The Princess Bride - Westley Was Knocked Out For Real
When we see violent scenes in a movie, we almost always assume that whatever we see is just a part of the act. Yet, in The Princess Bride, one specific scene went a little bit beyond this.
When Westley was taken as a hostage, he started being hit on the head by Count Rugen. That apparently resulted in the actor getting knocked out after the unexpected hard blow. He then woke up in the hospital with a bunch of stitches in his head.
The Godfather - Marlon Brando Missed His Flight
The Godfather suffered quite a few money-costing mistakes, including the famous missed flight from Marlon Brando. The actor was being waited on set but somehow he didn’t show up on time.
That was when the crew realized that he had missed his flight, resulting in the crew missing an entire day of filming. This ended up costing the production team roughly $40,000, ouch!