Kong sixth most costly movie ever

King Kong considers another alfresco meal.

Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong is the sixth most expensive film in Hollywood history, according to Forbes, the New York-based business magazine.

Universal Pictures' budget for Kong, which has its New Zealand premiere in Wellington tonight, was US$175 million ($249.2 million), but as the movie took longer to make than expected, Jackson put up some of his own money for the movie's completion.

The big gorilla movie cost US$207 million, compared with US$10 million, in today's money, spent on the original in 1933.

Big budgets do not guarantee success. King of the bombs was Cleopatra, the most expensive movie ever made.

Starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton and directed by Joseph Mankiewicz in 1963, it cost US$286.4 million ($412 million) in today's money.

Although it did reasonably well at the box office and picked up a couple of Academy Awards, Cleopatra nearly bankrupted Fox Studios.

Sharing the honours as the second most expensive movie was Titanic, directed by James Cameron in 1997 for US$229 million.

The movie did not go down like the ship, and went on to win 11 Academy Awards in 1998.

Only Ben Hur in 1953 and Jackson's final instalment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy in 2004 have equalled such a haul.

Level-pegging with Titanic was Waterworld, also at US$229 million, directed by Kevin Costner in 1995. This film did sink, and was a critical and box office disaster.

Costner has never made a film on such a big scale again.

Arnold Scharzenegger in Terminator 3 fared better, costing US$216 million in 2003.

Spider-Man 2 was made in 2004 for US$210 million.

The five movies made after Cleopatra used extensive special effects. Cleopatra was known for its lavish attention to authentic detail - Taylor wore a dress of solid gold that cost US$1 million.

Tonight's red-carpet premiere of King Kong in Wellington will be the last for triple Oscar-winning director Jackson, his Weta crews and the cast.

Since the world premiere in New York on December 5, Jackson and his team have attended premieres in London, Paris, Berlin and Tokyo.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to pack Courtenay Place for the premiere at the Embassy Theatre - the biggest film event in the capital since the final instalment of The Lord of the Rings had its world premiere in December 2003.

Stars Naomi Watts, Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Colin Hanks, Jamie Bell and Andy Serkis will be at the premiere.

The richest list

* 1 Cleopatra (1963) US$286.4m
* 2= Titanic (1997) US$229m
* 2= Waterworld (1995) US$229m
* 4 Terminator 3 (2003) US$216m
* 5. Spider-Man 2 (2004) US$210m
* 6. King Kong (2005) US$207m

- NZPA