‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ is Fox’s second most expensive movie after ‘Avatar’

A report from – of all places – the Calgary Herald suggests the upcoming X-Men flick, Days of Future Past, is Fox’s second most expensive movie ever, after only Avatar.

With Bryan Singer returning to Montreal for two weeks of reshoots, it seems the cost of his X-Men sequel has blown past that of its predecessors.

Though not even THR has the official price, it must sit somewhere between $210 million and $237 million.

That first tag belongs to Fox’s former second most expensive movie: X-Men – The Last Stand. The higher budget is James Cameron’s Avatar.

So why is Days of Future Past that expensive?

It does bring together cast members, new and old, such as Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Ellen Page, Anna Paquin, Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy, and Michael Fassbender.

They don’t come cheap, clearly.

Can it make back its money? Potentially, though it’s worth remembering that even the highest grossing X-Men entry only made $459 million (The Last Stand), and that’s a far cry from Avatar‘s $2.7 billion.

It arrives in cinemas May 2014.