10 Movie Moments It Became Obvious That a Movie Ran Out of Budget
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Since the turn of the century, computer-generated images have become an increasingly important part of film production. Using technology to enhance scenes and take audiences to make-believe worlds has allowed people to become more immersed than ever in cinema.
However, this technology costs millions of dollars and every movie made has a budget. Sometimes, filmmakers use so much of their budget early on in production that when the final few scenes are shot, they are noticeably worse than the rest of the film.
Here are the top ten “they ran out of budget” moments, in movie history.
Masters of the Universe
One user said that the ending of the 1987 movie, Masters of the Universe was the perfect example of a film-maker running out of budget. They said: “They literally ran out of money just before the end, so when they scraped enough together they filmed the climactic battle in a black void.”
Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior
The prequel to The Scorpion King was a straight-to-DVD release which indicates in itself that the budget was low and that the quality was poor. One user said: “In one scene, the young Scorpion King is supposed to fight a giant scorpion, but for some reason, it’s also invisible. It’s pretty clear that they couldn’t scrap up the funds for an actual CGI scorpion.”
The Snowman
One user said that they felt the Snowman must have run out of budget as the film appeared to just end abruptly. Another user said: “If I recall right, the director didn’t realize he only filmed like 85% of the script until they went to editing. Even on rushed schedules someone usually keeps up with what scenes were filmed and what’s left so I don’t fully understand the circumstances.”
Jurassic Park 3
The third installment of the Jurassic Park series is widely regarded as the worst of the lot. One user recalled the rushed ending, saying: “The movie was plagued with production issues that forced them into last-minute rewrites and ate up the budget and the ending with the sudden appearance of the navy and “see ya later, the end!” exit was a result of this.”
Escape from Los Angeles
Escape from Los Angeles was littered with iffy scenes but one user took particular exception with one of them. They said: “The submarine scene, complete with a badly animated shark and all was a standout.”
World War Z
The ending of World War Z was heavily criticized at the time and one user believes it was due to bad budgeting. They said: “The original ending tested poorly with audiences and the final third of the movie had to be quickly and cheaply reshot.”
Skyline
Skyline managed to get two sequels, however, the second half of the original movie was interesting, to say the least. One user said: “The final scenes are just storyboards shown under the credits.”
Fantastic Four
Superhero movies are hugely reliant on CGI but nobody seemed to tell Fantastic Four director, Tim Story. One Redditor said: “In the climax scenes, CGI suddenly dips to 20% quality because there was no money left for CGI… on a movie dependent on CGI.”
The Terminator
The Terminator is a great movie but it wasn’t immune to budget issues. One user recalled a scene revolving around a truck blowing out. They said: “When the truck blows up, the special effect shot looks unusually bad with an obvious string towing a toy truck made from what looks like cardboard.”
Air Force One
The plane crash scene of 1997’s Air Force One was targeted by one user. They said: “The laughably poor CGI scene in Air Force One of it crashing into the sea. It was poor even by 1997 standards. It was clear the budget was running on cobwebs by that point.”
Source: Reddit. More from Motherhood Life Balance:
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