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Top 5 most expensive shows in 2022

 
Power of rings

In an era when high-value productions from Marvel Studios have nearly taken over the box office, and visually stunning content is great sought after, all the production houses have begun investing a tonne of money into their projects.

 

2022 has got it all, from the most expensive TV series ever filmed to the greatest budget production from streaming giant Netflix. While films have always had a far larger production expense than television shows, 2022 has significantly blurred the line. Some of the series launched this year cost as much as some high-budget blockbusters fims.

 

5) HALO

halo

Since 2001, the HALO franchise has released video games and novels. The game series' overwhelming success over the years has resulted in numerous media adaptations to date. The most recent was HALO, a Paramount Plus TV series that released in 2022. Kyle Killen and Steve Kane developed the military sci-fi series, which stars Pablo Schreiber and Jen Taylor.

Fans of the franchise undoubtedly anticipated it and it brought attention. Paramount Plus put a lot of faith in the title, making it their most expensive production to date. According to reports, the network invested $10 million each episode for the nine-episode series, which is similar to several seasons of the highly popular HBO series Game of Thrones.

4) House of the Dragon

imh credit:DW

House of the Dragon was undoubtedly one of the most popular titles launched in 2022. The show served as a prequel to the blockbuster TV show Game of Thrones, which has is a pop-culture phenomenon. The HBO series was created by George R. R. Martin and Ryan Condal and adapted from Martin's novel Fire and Blood, which served as a backdrop for the original franchise A Song of Ice and Fire

Due to the success of its predecessor, HBO did not compromise on the budget for House of the Dragon. The network reportedly spent $200 million on its first season, with an average of $20 million each episode, which is several million dollars more than Game of Thrones ever spent.

House of the Dragon is set 200 years before Game of Thrones and around a century after the Targaryens had reunited the Seven Kingdoms. The series focuses on how the Targaryens came to their fall post during a destructive fight for succession known as the Dance of the Dragons.

3) She-Hulk: Attorney at Law

she hulk

Since the Marvel Cinematic Universe swept over popular culture in the early 2010s, Marvel Studios has been known to spend vast sums of money on their productions. The recent success of their megabudget blockbusters has encouraged Marvel to enter the television market as well. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law was one of their Phase Four television shows released in 2022.

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, like other MCU series released in recent years, was produced by Marvel Studios and not Marvel Television. It was ranked one of the most expensive series to be released in 2022, with a whopping $25 million  to each episode's budget. Tatiana Maslany played to role of She-Hulk, which also starred Jameela Jamil, Mark Ruffalo, Tim Roth, Ginger Gonzaga, Megan Thee Stallion, and other actors.

2) Stranger Things season 4

stranger things

One of the major pop culture blockbusters of the past ten years is Stranger Things. Upon its release on Netflix in 2016, the science fiction horror drama series started gaining immense popularity. The Duffer brothers' series became a signature title from the streaming giant, becoming one of their most popular offerings to date. Naturally, Netflix invested a significant sum of money in the creation of its most recent fourth season, which was published in 2022.

The fourth season, according to Wall Street Journal, had a staggering $270 million budget for its nine episodes, with a per-episode budget of $30 million.

The television series Stranger Things told the tale of the fictitious Indiana town of Hawkins and its involvement with the Upside Down. Millie Bobby Brown, Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, and more actors appeared in the ensemble cast of the show.

1)The Lord of the Rings: The Power Rings

the ring of power

Amazon Studio's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power was the most talked-about title with the highest budget in 2022. The epic work The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien influenced the fantasy series. The series, created by J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay, had a worldwide ensemble cast.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power had a lot of expectations to meet, with the cult fame and success of its predecessor.  To meet such expectations, lavish costumes, elaborate sets, and expert makeup artists were required, resulting in the largest production budget in television series ever. The $465 million budget for the eight-episode first season translates to a per-episode budget of about $58 million.

While the series was already slated to be the most expensive series ever filmed due to Amazon's multi-season committment and an expected total production cost of more than $1 billion, the extravagant expenditure on its 2022 debut was unexpected. Studio officials have stated that a significant portion of the expenditure was spent on developing the detailed set, which would also be used in the film.