Despite featuring a major star and boasting a big budget, here's why director Jonathan R. Betuel's Theodore Rex became the most expensive straight-to-video movie ever produced. Following the blockbuster success of Jurassic Park in 1993, there came a steady string of low-budget dinosaur movies looking to cash in on the Spielberg movie. There includes iconic b-movie producer/director Roger Corman's gory Carnosaur series or Tammy And The T-Rex, where Paul Walker plays a teenager whose brain is transplanted into a T-Rex.
Probably the most infamous of the bunch is Theodore Rex, which arrived in 1996. Theodore Rex was written and directed by Jonathan R. Betuel, with the script originally being more of a gritty, dark buddy comedy - where one partner happened to be a talking dinosaur. The story involves a futuristic world where humanity and talking dinosaurs co-exist, and Whoopi Goldberg's detective is paired with a dinosaur cop named Theodore Rex as they investigate a series of murders.
Theodore Rex cost nearly $34 million to produce but ended up going straight to video in 1996. According to a making-of article at movie star Whoopi Goldberg instead. Despite showing initial interest in Theodore Rex, the actor soon tried to exit the movie - and was hit with a lawsuit for breach of oral agreement by producers. After a court case, Goldberg signed on to star for $7 million - more than she was originally offered - but the bad publicity surrounding the case and Goldberg's resentment of being essentially being forced to make Theodore Rex ensured it wasn't a fun shoot.
Director Jonathan R. Betuel also rewrote the script constantly while filming Theodore Rex, while he and Goldberg shared a strained relationship. Theodore Rex was first set for release in 1995 from New Line but delayed due to competition from other movies. The film also suffered poor test screenings, so in 1996, the distributor decided just to release Theodore Rex straight to video in the U.S. While it's no longer unusual for movies with major actors to either go straight to digital or home video, back in 1996 it was extremely rare for a movie featuring a star like Whoopi Goldberg - who at the time was coming off the Sister Act movies and Made In America - to front an STV movie.
Jonathan R. Betuel's Theodore Rex also received scathing reviews, and Goldberg has since stated it's the only movie she regrets making. Adjusted for inflation, Theodore Rex's budget would be closer to $55 million in 2021, which still puts it above other expensive STV releases such as animated adventure Foodfight!, which cost around $45 million. If nothing else, Theodore Rex being the most expensive straight-to-video movie makes it something of a unique footnote in movie history.
