The production budget of David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) was $90 million.
The film was an English-language adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s 2005 Swedish novel, with Daniel Craig playing journalist Mikael Blomkvist and Rooney Mara portraying hacker Lisbeth Salander. Steven Zaillian wrote the screenplay, while Fincher brought the story a bleak, polished neo-noir style.
The $90 million figure refers to the production budget—the cost of making the film—not its marketing campaign or total financial exposure. That distinction matters because large studio releases often spend substantial additional sums on advertising and distribution. The film eventually earned roughly $239 million worldwide.
This version is sometimes confused with Niels Arden Oplev’s 2009 Swedish adaptation, which had a much smaller budget of about $13 million. Fincher’s film was released in the United States on December 21, 2011, and received strong reviews, including praise for its atmosphere, editing, score, and Mara’s Oscar-nominated performance.