ALL SCI-FI

[Pow]

I found it astonishing when I looked up what Ray Harryhausen & Charles Schneer were able to accomplish on some of their film's budgets compared to other films of the same era.

1958, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. Budget: $650,000.

1955, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Budget: $5,000,000.
1959, Ben Hur. Budget: $15,000,000.
1959, Sleeping Beauty. Budget: $6,000,000.
1959, Journey to the Center of the Earth. Budget: $3,000,000.

Jumping ahead to the year 1977.

Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger. Budget: $3,500,000.

Also released in 1977.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind. $19,400,000.
Star Wars. $11,000,000.
Damnation Alley. $8,000,000.
The Rescuers. $7,500,000.
Island of Dr. Moreau. $6,000,000.

As you can see, the Harryhausen productions were never in the same league as these other Hollywood productions. Granted, I'm comparing his fantasy movies to science fiction films. They are two different genres, but both genres are expensive to produce.

I bow down to both Ray, and his lifelong producer & friend Charles Schneer being able to pull off epic looking movies without having epic budgets with which to do them.