1963s Cleopatra was a box office hit, topping the charts that year, but the four-hour epic was still a complete financial failure. The film, which starred Elizabeth Taylor in the title role, along with Richard Burton as Mark Antony and Rex Harrison as Julius Caesar, was dogged by controversy during its development years. It seemed as though everything that could go wrong did go wrong, and every mistake and scandal kept the bill going higher and higher. As Cleopatra By the time the film was released in 1963, it had quadrupled its budget, making it virtually impossible for the box office to recoup its expenditure.

The idea for a massive, unprecedented film about Cleopatra comes from Walter Wanger (via Vanity Fair), a successful film producer who brought the concept to Twentieth Century Fox in 1958. At first everything went as expected with Cleopatra. Taylor was cast, Rouben Mamoulian was chosen as director and several other actors were chosen for the various other roles. Then everything started to go wrong. After delays and a completely spent budget, Twentieth Century Fox basically had to start from scratch with a new director and extensive recasting, reshoots and remakes, all of which cost a lot of money.

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What Cleopatra was about

The four-hour epic about Egypt’s most famous queen

The script for Cleopatra was adapted from the 1957 book The Life and Times of Cleopatra by Carlo Maria Franzero. It is a story that has long fascinated the world – the reign of the famous Egyptian Queen Cleopatraand her alleged love affairs with the Roman Julius Caesar and then with Marcus Antonius. It is a tragic story of betrayal, coup, murder, love and suicide, and Cleopatra held nothing back. The film’s total running time is 3 hours and 53 minutes, so the 1963 epic covers every detail of the story, starting with Cleopatra’s partnership with Caesar to dethrone her little brother (and husband) Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII, who had previously expelled her from Egypt.

When Cleopatra regained her throne, Cleopatrashe married Caesar, and the couple dreamed of ruling the world together. Their joint heir, Caesarion, was officially recognized, and all seemed well – that is, of course, until the famous assassination of Julius Caesar. After that, Cleopatra began a love affair with Mark Antony instead, and the two allied against Octavian, Caesar’s adopted son, who was chosen as heir ahead of Caesarion. After several lost battles and some deception and misunderstanding, Antony commits suicide and dies in Cleopatra’s arms, who later kills herself as well.

“Cleopatra” was a huge box office success in 1963

The scandals surrounding Cleopatra attracted audiences to the cinemas

Cleopatra has long been a mysterious and fascinating historical figure, so it’s no surprise that her dramatized story drew audiences to theaters. If the tragic seductress wasn’t enough, the film’s infamous scope would. CleopatraThe film’s enormous running time was supported by rumors of grand sets and harrowing performances, and the 1963 film grossed a whopping $58 million at the worldwide box officeInflation adjustment would CleopatraThe box office revenue was around 484 million dollars, which is a considerable success even by today’s standards.

Cleopatra was by far the most successful film of 1963 and remained among the top 10 highest-grossing films for quite some time. However, the reviews were mixed. At the time Cleopatra When the film was released, the difficulties and controversies during production were well known, and critics and audiences alike wanted to know if all the effort was worth it. The overwhelming conclusion seemed to be that Cleopatra was just OK. This was ultimately made worse by the fact that Twentieth Century Fox had lost millions on the project despite the film’s box office success.

Cleopatra’s budget and BTS problems explained – How much money was lost

Love affairs, disorganized sets and wasted money – oh dear!

Producer Walter Wagner had a great vision for Cleopatraand it was clear from the start that it would be an expensive film. However, no one could have predicted how much Twentieth Century Fox would ultimately spend on the project. In the very early stages of production, the studio gave Wagner a budget of about $3 million to get the ball rolling – enough for 64 days of shooting with salaries for the cast and director. Another $5 million was added to pay for Nigel Balchin’s screenplay and a possible lead actress. Ultimately Taylor publicly signed a $1 million contract– more than any actress had ever earned.

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Shooting for Cleopatra Filming began in England, and this was the first of many expensive mistakes Fox made. An Alexandria set with several 52-foot-tall sphinxes and 20 acres of land was built at a cost of $600,000, only for dreary weather to make filming in Egypt virtually impossible. To make matters worse, Taylor fell seriously ill with pneumonia and nearly died before she recovered and was able to resume filming. Nevertheless, after several months of work, Cleopatra had already gone over budget, lost $7 million, and completed only 10 minutes of footage (in which Taylor did not appear).

Cleopatra was already overwhelmed by the time Taylor recovered, but Fox decided to start over. The lead actress was one of the few actresses to stay with the project, and even a new director was hired (Joseph Mankiewicz). The England set was abandoned and filming moved to Italy instead. The new sets were even grander than before, with The replica of the Roman Forum is said to be larger than the original. Of course, all this costs a lot of money. In the end Cleopatra The production costs were $44 million, today it is about $350 million..

The outrageous costs for Cleopatra was public Hollywood news in the 1960s, as was the drama behind the scenes of the project. Taylor famously began an affair with Richard Burtonwhich led to both of them divorcing their respective spouses. There were also frequent reports of drug and alcohol use, which made the already disorganized state of filming even worse. The cast publicly discussed the bizarre process of making Cleopatra for years to come, describing it as a surreal and chaotic experience. Although it was the biggest film of 1963, it took Twentieth Century Fox years to recover from Cleopatra.

In the end, Twentieth Century Fox spent an estimated $60 million on Cleopatra (taking into account expenses that are not normally included in the budget), which means the film’s $58 million box office revenue was simply not enoughOnly when Fox sold CleopatraTelevision broadcasting rights for $5 million, that one could say that Cleopatra broke even, and that didn’t happen until 1966 – three years after the film became both a blockbuster and a huge financial flop.

Source: Vanity Fair

Cleopatra (1963)

Cleopatra is a historical epic film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, based on the life of the last female pharaoh of ancient Egypt, Cleopatra VII. The film stars Elizabeth Taylor as the title character, alongside Richard Burton as Mark Antony and Rex Harrison as Julius Caesar. The film tells of Cleopatra’s complex relationships with these two powerful Roman rulers.

director

Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Release date

June 12, 1963

Studio(s)

MCL Films SA, Walwa Films SA, 20th Century Fox

Authors

Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Ranald MacDougall, Sidney Buchman

Pour

Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Pamela Brown, George Cole

Duration

248 minutes

budget

44000000.0

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