It's hard to think of a movie with a more appropriate name for things going wrong than 'The Fall of The Roman Empire.' When Rome fell all those years ago, it was the end of a great era, and so it proved to be the case for Samuel Bronston Productions, who made the unwise decision to bankroll this box office disaster in 1964. This movie had Sophia Loren, Alec Guinness, and Christopher Plummer. It would seem someone within the studio thought that with so much star power, they didn't need to worry about the plot. They were wrong.
'The Fall of The Roman Empire' was billed as a historical drama, and yet somehow, despite the scale and depth of the subject matter, the writers forgot to include any drama on screen. It bored its way to terrible reviews, and the public decided to give it a miss. Making the movie cost $19m in 1964. Adjusted for inflation, that would be around $164m today. It made back barely a quarter of that budget. Samuel Bronston Productions didn't have another $15m to cover the loss, and never made another film.
To insure one’s house, one’s car or to underwrite a life insurance policy, that is common practice. But who would pay an insurance premium for his/her thumb, legs or smile? Stars, of course.
At the top of the ranking are the legs of Mariah Carey, worth 810 million USD: The diva became, in 2006, the Gillette brand muse for the advertising campaign «Legs of a Goddess». She then took out an insurance policy with London Lloyds to protect her legs, a decision that is far from being insignificant. Among its customers, the London insurer then included several icons of music, such as Bob Dylan or Rod Stewart.
David Beckham’s body insured for 195 million USD: European champion with Manchester United in 1999, David Beckham was in 2006 the most renowned footballer of the planet. In relation to his sporting activities, he took out an insurance cover for his legs. The huge amount paid for his insurance would reportedly exceed the 103 million USD disbursed by Real Madrid for the cover of Christiano Ronaldo in 2009. The fashion model would later extend his insurance cover to his entire body.
15 million USD in insurance for Kim Kardashian’s curves: The curves of Kim Kardashian are her number one beauty asset. The reality TV star, who is crazy about plastic surgery, has underwritten an insurance policy worth 15 million USD to protect her famous butt.
The culinary critic Egon Ronay assured his taste buds: The famous Hungarian culinary critic has insured his taste buds since 1957, for the amount of 400 000 USD. An original insurance policy which allows him to cover his sense of taste without which he will no longer be able to practice his job.