Lost's 20 Million Pilot Dollars-Why so much?

[NowIWillDestroyAbydos]

I recently read in TV guide that Lost's pilot costed 20 Million Dollars.
Instead of renting the DVD just to watch it, I decided to ask you guys. Why did the Lost pilot cost so much?

Images are welcome.

[Qasim]

I heard it cost 5 million

anyway they bought a plane and broke it up and then scattered the pieces across the beach

[MarshAngel]

I have no certain idea but why not try guessing at what was included in their budget?

Costume - several thousand dollars
Average plane ticket and cost of flying each actor to Hawaii + Hotel (if they paid)
$1,000 more or less x # of cast & crew
Permits for filming in Hawaii... a couple thousand dollars
Purchasing a jet for the purpose of blowing it up; explosives, stunt people, special effects cost, clean-up costs.... a couple hundred thousand dollars at the least I'd guess but probably more
Promotional costs - No less than a million dollars
Paying the cast and crew - A few more million dollars

I'd say promotional costs took up a big chunk of the budget and the special effects for the first episode is another chunk as well as paying the actors and crew. Essentially the two hour pilot with all it's details, and the time it took (probably a few weeks) and was pretty much a movie with all the costs involved in the average movie with effects.

[NowIWillDestroyAbydos]

Oops sorry screwed up it's actually 12 million dollars to shoot. But still that's a lot of money, even for a pilot.

[BruTak]

It expensive cos it's shot on location, somewhere on the Austrailian mainland.

[aAnubiSs]

It expensive cos it's shot on location, somewhere on the Austrailian mainland.

100% Hawaii

[Qasim]

Since when was Hawaii in Australia? LOL

[Blue Banrigh]

Location shooting is expensive.

Not sure if I'm correct but I heard somewhere that Star Trek: Voyager's pilot had the pricetag of 25 mill or so.

[NowIWillDestroyAbydos]

Not sure if I'm correct but I heard somewhere that Star Trek: Voyager's pilot had the pricetag of 25 mill or so.

25 million. Holy Crap!

[Anubis69]

What a waste.....Eh, I mean....money well spent on a well thought out series which ended in a plausible manner.

[BruTak]

100% Hawaii

Mea culpa, that'll teach me to get confused between RL and TV *slaps self on forehead* D'oh!

It's still all shot on location though - same island Jurassic Park was shot on.
*electric lightblub lights up above head* Hey! Maybe The Monster that lives in the jungle is a T-Rex that got left behind?

[GhostPoet]

Somewhat going off subject...but i'm really curious to see what the fat dude looks like now. They put him on an extreme weight loss routine..because he's suppose to look thinner as he stays on the island.