10,000 B.C. Budget

2008

AdventureActionDramaFantasy1h 49m

Updated April 25, 2026

Budget

$105,000,000

Domestic Box Office

$94,784,201

Worldwide Box Office

$269,784,201

Synopsis

In a remote mountain tribe, the young hunter D'Leh has found his heart's passion – the beautiful Evolet. But when a band of mysterious warlords raid his village and kidnap Evolet, D'Leh leads a small group of hunters to pursue the warlords to the end of the world to save her. As they venture into unknown lands for the first time, the group discovers there are civilizations beyond their own and that mankind's reach is far greater than they ever knew. At each encounter the group is joined by other tribes who have been attacked by the slave raiders, turning D'Leh's once-small band into an army.

Driven by destiny, the unlikely warriors must battle prehistoric predators while braving the harshest elements. At their heroic journey's end, they uncover a lost civilization and learn their ultimate fate lies in an empire beyond imagination, where great pyramids reach into the skies. Here they will take their stand against a tyrannical god who has brutally enslaved their own. And it is here that D'Leh finally comes to understand that he has been called to save not only Evolet but all of civilization.

What is the budget of 10,000 B.C.?

"10,000 B.C.," an adventure released in 2008, was directed by Roland Emmerich and stars Steven Strait, Camilla Belle. The production budget was $105,000,000, placing it in the high-budget range for adventure productions of its era.

Key Budget Allocation Categories

While specific budget breakdowns are not publicly available, typical cost drivers for an adventure production like this include:

Stunts, Action Sequences & Visual Effects: Action films allocate a substantial portion of their budget to choreographing and executing practical stunts, pyrotechnics, and CGI-heavy sequences.
Above-the-Line Talent (Cast & Director): A-list talent commands significant upfront fees plus backend participation.
Production Design, Sets & Locations: Action films frequently require multiple international shooting locations, large-scale set construction, vehicle acquisitions and modifications, and specialized equipment , all of which drive production costs well above those of dialogue-driven genres.
Development: At the 2008 Wondercon, Emmerich mentioned the fiction of Robert E.

What were the major cost factors in 10,000 B.C.?

Several factors contributed to the overall production costs of "10,000 B.C.."

Stunts: Stunts, Action Sequences & Visual Effects is one of the primary cost drivers in adventure productions of this scale.
Above-the-Line Talent (Cast: Above-the-Line Talent (Cast & Director) is one of the primary cost drivers in adventure productions of this scale.
Production Design: Production Design, Sets & Locations is one of the primary cost drivers in adventure productions of this scale.

10,000 B.C. Box Office Performance

"10,000 B.C." earned $94,784,201 domestically and $269,784,201 worldwide at the box office. Against a production budget of $105,000,000, the film performed strongly at the box office.

A film typically needs to earn approximately twice its production budget to cover marketing and distribution costs. For "10,000 B.C.," that break-even threshold was roughly $210,000,000. With worldwide earnings of $269,784,201, the film cleared that threshold comfortably.

Production Budget: $105,000,000
Worldwide Gross: $269,784,201
Net Return: $164,784,201
ROI: approximately 156.9%

At 156.9%, "10,000 B.C." earned roughly $2.57 for every $1 invested in production.

10,000 B.C. Production History

At the 2008 Wondercon, Emmerich mentioned the fiction of Robert E. Howard as a primary influence for the film's setting, as well as his love for the film Quest for Fire (1981) and the book Fingerprints of the Gods. He invited composer Harald Kloser to help write the screenplay after he liked his story suggestions to The Day After Tomorrow.