It has zero spectacle, no CGI de-aging.
Where did they spend 200 millions?
They quite literally constructed a whole ass town in the middle of nowhere in Oklahoma and hired over 2000 extras. Not to mentioned the film has a massive stacked A-list cast. Leo probably cost $20 million alone.
shareThe reasons you list prove the movie shouldn't cost 200m, because Oppenheimer did all of them!
1. Build a town.
2. Extras.
3. Stacked A-list cast? Oppenheimer is the most stunt casting movie in recent years! Do you really want to compare the cast?
PS. Oppenheimer has spectacles and shot in IMAX!!!!!!!!
Also to consider:
Killers's shoot began in March of 2020 but was postponed due to COVID until March of 2021, a full year later. It shot for 100 days, non-continuous, with 29 days of extensive reshoot and pickup shots in the summer of 2022. All of the stopping and going added heavily to the costs, and is the same reason why Indy Jones 5 cost so much. Meanwhile, Oppenheimer's shoot lasted 85 days and began in 2022, so it was not at all affected by COVID and shot without any pausing.
Killers not only built a whole town from scratch, but refurbished the real life Oklahoma towns of Pawhuska and Fairfax to make them appear as they did in the early 1900's, and each location was in full operation for nearly six months straight. Oppenheimer built a town that was used for only 6 days of filming and used other already-established locations to save on costs.
Killers had 2000 registered extras work on the film, vs Oppenheimer's 450.
Leo alone apparently got paid $40 million to act in Killers. Cillian Murphy got $10 million, while co-stars Emily Blunt, Downey Jr, Damon, Pugh, and Harnet all got paid somewhere between $2-$4 million each.
The script rights to Killers cost $5 million alone, which makes it one of the most expensive scripts ever purchased. Not sure how much Oppenheimer's script cost.
Killers was shot with the original intended purpose of being a 4-hour movie, so obviously the film was prepared to be absolutely massive a lot of stuff was left on the cutting room floor. Oppenheimer was never supposed to be that long or complex.
Even small scale period films tend to be more expensive than regular films with "spectacle".
Period films often require elaborate and historically accurate costumes even for the most irrelevant background extras, which can be expensive to design, create, and maintain.
Recreating historical settings or building elaborate sets from scratch can drive up production costs.
Authentic period props or replicas need to be sourced or created, which can be costly.
Researchers arent someone you need to consult with when filming a story within your own time period and culture, but historical films about the Osage probably require extensive consultation in order to be portrayed realistically and respectfully.
On top of it all, theres the already considerable cost of the cast particularly when hiring A-listers like De Niro. As others have already commented, Di Caprio was reportedly paid $40 million vs. Cillian Murphy's $10 million for Oppenheimer of which most of the cast took a pay cut. Then theres the crew, insurance, permits, marketing, post production etc. Film is just a costly medium.