On Average are animated movies cheeper then live action ones.

[I.R Joey]

And I don't mean the all CG ones, I mean the normal 2d cel ones.

[Maxie Zeus]

One problem with trying to compare movies in terms of cost is the tremendous skew caused by the high-priced ones. Precisely because huge "tentpole" films are profitable when they hit, Hollywood makes a lot of them, and so the "average" price of a movie is pretty high--in the neighborhood of $60 million the last time I heard. But in fact there are comparatively few movies that get made in that price range. Most would-be blockbusters are at least $90 million (or that's what a studio will admit to), while most smaller movies are unlikely to cross the $30 million to $40 million threshold, I believe, and more than a few "programmers" are in the neighborhood of $10 million to $20 million.

2-D animated movies are expensive, and I believe do tend to cluster around the $60-$70 million mark (though you should always beware of Hollywood accounting, especially when it includes such high "upfront" costs as hiring a huge animation staff). That would make them probably "average" but only in the sense of not costing as much as a Schwarzenegger-Cameron collaboration, but more than a teen slasher flick.

Is that totally unhelpful, or what? ;)

[Failure]

I think on average, animation movies have higher production costs than your average live action movie (by average live action film I'm thinking of something like Hardball, with one big actor, little to no special effects, etc., actually the average movie probably costs less than what Hardball cost).
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think more than half the costs for a movie comes from advertising and related activities (I just learned this in my comm class a week ago and now I cant remember! I'm paying more attention tomorrow. :o )

I'm not 100% sure, but I think production takes a higher percentage of the cost for animation.
Aiee I dont think I'm making sense, sorry! Listen to Maxie Zeus, he's got it down.

Basically, yes, animation movies, in general, cost more than your "average" movie, but not your "average" summertime blow 'em up flick.