1963
“How could any movie, even one with Elizabeth Taylor and a cast of thousands, cost $40 million?” asks Newsweek. The public blamed Taylor for what they saw as lavish expenses, but unforeseen setbacks racked up costs throughout the movie’s production—like the “$7 million and sixteen months spent in Britain for twelve minutes of film.” Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Cleopatra was, at the time, the most expensive movie ever made. Now, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011) holds that title, with expenses topping $378.5 million, nearly 10 times that of Cleopatra.
1997
“Discovered only two years ago, a brilliant Hale-Bopp arrives in the night sky,” says Newsweek. “This one is worth the watch.” For 18 months, the unusually bright comet was visible to the naked eye across…
