Which cartoon is the most expensive in history — you have definitely seen it.

The creation of animated films has long turned into a high-tech process with million-dollar budgets. Some cartoons cost studios more than large-scale Hollywood blockbusters.

Which cartoon is the most expensive in history

To date, the most expensive animated film in terms of production costs is 'Tangled', produced by Walt Disney in 2010. Its budget reached about 260 million dollars.

The project started in 2001 under the name 'Rapunzel Unbraided'. Initially, the cartoon was planned to be made in the style of a parody comedy, but then the concept was changed several times. Directors, screenwriters, and visual styles were changed, which prolonged the production process and led to additional costs.

Disney aimed to combine the classic 'painted' look of its fairy tales with modern 3D animation technologies. For this, unique tools and new non-photorealistic rendering technologies were created to preserve the effect of a painted picture.

One of the main technical challenges was creating the animation of the main character's long hair. Her braid reached over 20 meters, and the movement of the hair had to look as realistic as possible. To achieve this, new physical modeling systems had to be created, which also affected the budget.

Hundreds of animators, technical artists, programmers, and designers worked on the cartoon. All of them received high fees, and the lengthy production only increased these costs. Renowned composers, actors for voicing characters, and orchestras for music recording were involved in the production.

By the way, in theaters, the cartoon fully recouped its costs and brought in nearly 593 million dollars in global box office.

The cartoon 'Tangled' turned out to be the most expensive in animation history, due to significant investments in technical developments, realistic animations, and the involvement of talented specialists. This project became a great challenge for the Walt Disney studio, but ultimately brought significant commercial success and popularity among audiences worldwide.