17 Multi-Million Dollar Film Changes That Led The Studio To Go Way Over The Budget

Some movie budgets balloon because of bad planning, bad luck, or a last-minute fix that suddenly costs millions. In Hollywood, even a small change can mean reshoots, redesigns, recasting, or rebuilding entire sets, and those decisions can ripple through a production fast.

This list looks at 17 films that went through major changes before release, from cast replacements and rewrites to emergency reshoots and full redesigns. Some of those moves helped the final movie, while others just pushed the budget even higher.

Either way, the price tags are hard to ignore, and a few of these productions became famous for all the wrong reasons.

1. Netflix and Zack Snyder spent an additional "a few million" just to add Tig Notaro to Army of the Dead. This was necessary because they had to edit out Chris D'Elia due to sexual misconduct allegations made against him.

Clay Enos / Netflix

2. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were fired just a few weeks shy of the final filming of Solo: A Star Wars Story. The reshoots cost about $275 million.

Jonathan Olley / LucasFilm / Everett Collection

That kind of behind-the-scenes shakeup can get expensive fast.

3. Waterworld had to rebuild the "multimillion-dollar" set after a hurricane destroyed it. However, it didn't achieve much success.

Universal / Everett Collection

4. Michael J. Fox replaced Eric Stoltz as Marty McFly in Back to the Future. They had to redo all of Stoltz's scenes, which added an additional $3 million to their budget.

Universal / Everett Collection

5. Christopher Plummer replaced Kevin Spacey in All the Money in the World, courtesy of Ridley Scott. This occurred after sexual misconduct allegations were made against Spacey.

This studio reportedly spent $10 million on reshoots.

TriStar Pictures / Everett Collection

Sometimes the fix is worth the extra money, even if it comes late.

6. Toy Story 2 underwent numerous changes before its final release, resulting in a budget that added up to $90 million. This was primarily due to the need to reanimate most of the scenes from the first cut.

Disney / Everett Collection

7. After a series of backlash from the first looks, Director Jeff Fowler and Paramount redesigned Sonic in Sonic the Hedgehog just before the movie was completed. The redesigns cost less than $5 million, but at least people were more satisfied and less disturbed by Sonic's more properly proportioned eyes.

"It went on to top the box office with a $58 million debut over the three-day weekend and $70 million over the four, breaking Detective Pikachu's record for the biggest opening weekend by a video game-based film."

Paramount Pictures / Everett Collection

8. Stephen King's The Dark Tower had to spend an additional $6 million on reshoots to fill in some backstories for the Man in Black.

Columbia Pictures / Everett Collection

9. Suicide Squad had to redo many scenes and added even more action sequences, leading Warner Bros. to pay an additional "tens of millions" of dollars.

Warner Bros / Everett Collection

By this point, the budget was clearly doing its own thing.

It is like friends backing out last minute and still being asked to pay.

10. The Lone Ranger had to cut some action sequences and special effects because the budget was already surpassing $200 million.

Disney / Everett Collection

11. An additional 22 days of filming were added to the production of Titanic, causing the budget to skyrocket to $200 million. The money was spent not only for the extra days of filming but also to ensure that the visual effects were up to par.

20th Century Fox / Everett Collection

12. Cleopatra nearly led 20th Century Fox to bankruptcy in 1963 when the film's budget shot up to $42 million due to the necessary reshoots.

20th Century Fox / Everett Collection

13. Screenwriter Tony Gilroy was paid "north of $5 million" to make rewrites and assist with the reshoots for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

LucasFilm / Everett Collection

Some productions just keep finding new ways to spend money.

14. Warner Bros. spent about $25 million on the reshoots of Justice League after Zack Snyder stepped down as director and Joss Whedon was hired to complete the film.

Warner Bros / Everett Collection

15. Shrek originally featured Mike Myers's emphasized Canadian accent, but after the rough cut, he changed Shrek's dialogue to a Scottish accent. The reanimation of the scenes cost DreamWorks about "$4 million to $5 million."

DreamWorks / Everett Collection

16. When Richard Donner departed as the director of Superman II, extensive reshoots were required a couple of years after it was initially filmed. This led the budget to rise to $54 million in 1980.

Warner Bros / Everett Collection

17. The first cut of World War Z was deemed "atrocious," necessitating the reshooting of many scenes, which added about $40 million to their initial budget.

Paramount / Everett Collection

Some of these movies still found success, but the budgets tell their own story.

What do you think of these costly changes? Read on.

For another budget blowup, read about friends arguing over luxury hotel costs after splitting a vacation.