"Cleopatra" was the most expensive film of its day

At an astronomical $44 million, "Cleopatra" was the most expensive film of its day and remained so for decades, eclipsing "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1962), which cost a mere $17 million. However, not all the expense ended up in what could be seen on screen.

At one point, "Cleopatra" was the only 20th Century Fox film in production. "They had nowhere else to charge overhead," recalled Tom Mankiewicz, son of director Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who took a break from college to work on the film. "And Dad always used to joke when he was driving with me to the set, "Right now, the head of Fox in Hong Kong will be taking two prostitutes to lunch and he's being charged to my movie. There is nowhere else to charge the expense."

"Later I was able to see the studio's accounting of the waste of money," Elizabeth Taylor said some time later. "They had $3 million in 'miscellaneous' and $100,000 for paper cups. They said I ate 12 chickens and 40 pounds of bacon every day for breakfast. what? what?"

Adjusted for inflation, "Cleopatra" remains one of the most expensive films ever made.

"Cleopatra" was the top grossing film of 1963 and one of the top 10 highest grossing films of the decade. The film would earn $38.04 million in March 1966. Eventually the television rights were sold to ABC for an impressive world record $5 million.