13 Movie Moments That Were Pretty Short In Length, But Absolutely Mammoth In Price

"We shot one entire night for four seconds of film."

It takes a lot to make a movie – a lot of money, usually. When a director or producer has one thing in mind, there's very little that can be done to change it, which can end up being very, very expensive.

Paramount Pictures

Often scenes that will last just a few minutes will actually cost millions and take days, weeks, even years to prepare for. Here are 13 brief movie moments that cost a bucketload of cash to make...

1. Vanilla Sky

Paramount Pictures

In order to create the dreamy driving sequence in Vanilla Sky, the director – Cameron Crowe – wanted to have Tom Cruise's character alone in a deserted Times Square. So, instead of doing it as a CGI sequence, he went about trying to cordon off the notoriously busy square for filming IRL.

Crowe reportedly had to pay $1million in order to shut down the tourist spot for three hours and get the shots he needed. According to the director, the city said they would allow it this time and this time only, so it was a super rare opportunity for Cruise and the team. Still, that's an expensive price to pay for a few movie minutes!

Have a look here:

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2. The Force Awakens

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

It's fair to say that Mark Hamill has done fairly well for himself out of the Star Wars franchise (which has done well for itself through him too, of course.) His appearance in the 2015 film Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which lasted just a few minutes, was clearly very important. So important, in fact, that the production paid him $3 million for that short, short cameo. 

Hamill was apprehensive about having a scene right at the end, and worried it would come off as a bit of a "gimmick." However, he eventually agreed, which was probably something to do with that healthy payday (and who can blame him??). 

Watch the scene here:

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3. The Other Guys

Sony Pictures Releasing

On the subject of expensive cameos, how about the time Dwayne Johnson appeared in The Other Guys for 15 minutes? If you'd have walked into the cinema 15 minutes late for the buddy cop movie starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, you'd have missed Dwayne Johnson AND Samuel L. Jackson's characters, but they were certainly not forgotten financially.

Dwayne Johnson reportedly bagged $9 million for his role, a role that was over before the main bulk of the movie even got underway – a healthy payday for him! TBF, we did get the iconic "aim for the bushes" scene, so... Worth it!

Have a look here:

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4. The Matrix Reloaded

Warner Bros. Pictures

Using practical stunts can be suuuuper expensive – especially when a set is built specifically for one scene. This is what The Wachowskis did for a fan-favourite car chase scene in The Matrix Reloaded.

The production team hired out an old naval base and on it they built an entire rake freeway costing $2.5m! The stretch of road ran 1.5 miles long, and was encased by a 19ft wall that was made to look like concrete. In addition to the expense of building an entire freeway for the scene, over one hundred cars were destroyed to get the desired effect. That's one seriously expensive scene!

Watch the scene here:

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5. Spectre

Sony Pictures Releasing

James Bond and fast cars go hand in hand, but the use and subsequent destruction of these flashy vehicles is eye-wateringly expensive. For Spectre, the cost of destroying various vehicles for the film was reportedly over £24m in total.

One night of filming in particular cost the production millions, and they only got four seconds of footage out of it! It was for a part of the movie where the cars enter the Vatican. Gary Powell, the chief stunt coordinator on the movie, said, "In Rome, we wrecked millions of pounds' worth. They were going into the Vatican at top speeds of 110mph. We shot one entire night for four seconds of film."

Watch the scene here:

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6. Cliffhanger

TriStar Pictures

Whenever a director wants to do a big stunt, the studio has to pay A LOT of money for it. Well, there aren't too many stunts bigger than the one Renny Harlin wanted to pull off in Cliffhanger. The stunt in question is one of the most dangerous ever done for a film, and became the most expensive ariel stunt of all time when it cost the studio $1 million in 1993. That's more than double now, adjusting for inflation.

The stuntman, Simon Crane, had to travel from one aircraft to a smaller aircraft by zip-line, while both were going 150mph. The scene is certainly a stand-out, particularly for 1993, but that's still a lot to pay for such a short moment!

Have a look here:

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7. Ben Hur

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Prior to this movie, smashing budget records is something many a Ben-Hur adaptation had done before; it happened in the 1925 version, which became the most expensive film of the silent era, for instance. This 1959 version would continue that trend and turn into the costliest film ever made.

One of the most expensive parts of the film to shoot was the chariot scene. Not accounting for the time or money spent building the 18-acre set, the chariot shoot alone took a year of planning and five weeks of filming. That added up to the cost of at least $1 million. Adjusted for inflation, that's well over $10m in today's money.

Watch the scene here:

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8. Valentine's Day

Warner Bros. Pictures

It seems as though movies really will go the extra mile in order to secure what may even be a fleeting cameo from a movie star... The extra mile being paying them a lot of money. For the movie Valentine's Day, Julia Roberts was paid $3 million upfront (against 3% of the box office) for what ended up being a six-minute appearance.

Wanting to benefit from the film being directed by the same director as Pretty Woman, Julia joining the cast for even a short cameo made sense for them. She actually earned around $12,000 for every word she said in the movie! 

Have a look here:

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9. Speed 2: Cruise Control

20th Century Studios

For the plot to work in the realistic way that the director wanted (using practical effects) Speed 2: Cruise Control was always going to be an expensive movie. Particularly the part in which a cruise liner crashes into a hotel! The only way to get the effect was to build a 150ft long replica of the cruise liner they were using to film. 

They, of course, had to build all of the houses that the liner crashed into as well – something that took a monumental effort and a monumental price. For the five-minute sequence of the crash, the production spent a reported $25 million to make it come to life.

Have a look here:

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10. I am Legend

Warner Bros. Pictures

One of this movie's most iconic scenes was also, unsurprisingly, one of its most expensive. The logistics involved in shooting the Brooklyn Bridge evacuation scene were daunting enough, without even considering the filming itself. Permits upon permits were needed, as was a crew of 250, plus 1,000 extras, and 160 members of the National Guard.

The executive producer estimated the cost of the scene at around $5 million, although some online believe the number to be far greater. With all the army issued helicopters, boats, and crew needed to pull off the shot, it's no wonder people think that $5m number seems a bit shy of the real cost.

Take a look here:

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11. Varsity Blues

Paramount Pictures

Music supervisor Thomas Golubić revealed that the scene in Varsity Blues when the team are playing hungover to the iconic AC/DC track "Thunderstruck" cost the studio a pretty penny. Actually, it was more than a pretty penny – it was $500,000 (in the '90s).

That price didn't even include any of the shooting, it was what the studio had to pay in order to get the rights to the song. Golubić said he was "horrified" when he heard the number, but the studio had money so they paid it anyway.

Hear it here:

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12. Ghostbusters (2016)

Sony Pictures Releasing

It can't be easy to cut a scene you've worked so hard on, especially one that took so much time and money. Well, that's what director Paul Feig had to do for Ghostbusters, which he described as "the biggest decision of my life."

The scene in question was a whole dance number performed by Chris Hemsworth's character, which took two whole days to shoot (plus all the rehearsal days) and cost seven figures. It got a mixed reaction from test screenings that led Paul to axe it from the main film. Instead, it played during the credits with the other, no doubt less expensive, deleted scenes.

Watch for yourself here:

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13. And finally, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

Paramount Pictures

If we thought the earlier cameos were a bit steep, the Mission Impossible team were made to fork out a hell of a lot of money in order to get Ving Rhames to appear in this movie.

While he barely appeared in the film, his salary was a reported $7.7m for only a couple of days of work – it couldn't have been any more than that as he's only in it for a few minutes. It's unknown if he was supposed to be in it for longer, and if disagreements over his salary prevented that or not, but that is still one hefty payday for a few minutes of action!

What other short movie moments that cost a wild amount of money are there? Let us know in the comments below!