Nicolas Cage earned $150 million between 1996 and 2011. He spent it all.
Not on normal things. On dinosaur skulls, haunted mansions, two European castles, a pet octopus, and a $300,000 Lamborghini he crashed.
His spending is the stuff of legend. And then the IRS came.
The Purchases
Let's catalog what Nicolas Cage bought:
Real Estate (at peak: 15 properties)
- Two castles (Germany and England)
- The "Lalaurie Mansion" in New Orleans (haunted)
- Two Bahamian islands
- Homes in LA, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Rhode Island
- Properties totaling over $100 million
Vehicles
- 50+ cars including rare Ferraris
- 30+ motorcycles
- A Gulfstream jet
- A yacht
Exotic Items
- A $300,000 dinosaur skull
- Shrunken heads
- A shark
- Two king cobras
- An octopus
- Rare first-edition comics (including Action Comics #1)
This is a real list.
The Dinosaur Skull
The most famous purchase:
- $276,000 for a T-Rex skull
- Bought at auction
- Outbid Leonardo DiCaprio
- Later discovered it was stolen from Mongolia
- He had to return it
He lost $276,000 on a stolen dinosaur skull.
The LaLaurie Mansion
In New Orleans, he bought the most haunted house in America:
- Site of historic torture and murders
- Multiple ghost sightings reported
- He said he wanted to "write the ultimate haunted house novel"
- He never wrote the book
- Lost the house in foreclosure
He bought a haunted mansion for a book he never wrote.
The Two Castles
Nicolas Cage owned castles:
- Schloss Neidstein in Germany (medieval castle)
- Midford Castle in England (19th century)
- Bought for millions each
- Sold at huge losses
Why two castles? Because one castle wasn't enough.
The Octopus
He bought an octopus for $150,000:
- Said it would help his acting
- Claimed it was a good roommate
- "They're very intelligent"
- This is a real quote
The octopus was for acting research.
The Cobras
He owned two king cobras:
- Named them Moby and Sheba
- Highly venomous
- Kept at his home
- Eventually donated them
Because of course Nicolas Cage had king cobras.
The Burial Tomb
In New Orleans' oldest cemetery:
- He bought a 9-foot pyramid tomb
- For his future burial
- Cost unknown but significant
- It's already there, waiting
He prepaid for a pyramid burial monument.
The Financial Collapse
By 2009, it all collapsed:
- $14 million owed to the IRS
- Foreclosures on multiple properties
- Lawsuits from unpaid bills
- Had to sell almost everything
He made $150 million. He ended up $14 million in debt.
Who He Blamed
Cage sued his business manager:
- Claimed Samuel Levin mismanaged funds
- Said he wasn't told about spending problems
- Levin countersued
- Levin said Cage ignored all warnings
Someone had to be responsible. Cage didn't think it was him.
The Comeback Grind
To pay off debts, Cage worked constantly:
- Took every movie offered
- Direct-to-video films
- B-movies and paycheck roles
- Sometimes 3-4 movies a year
The "Cage rage" meme era of weird, bad movies.
The VOD Era
From 2010-2020, his filmography included:
- Multiple movies you've never heard of
- Released on VOD or streaming
- Not prestige projects
- Paycheck jobs
He went from Oscar winner to VOD king.
The Artistic Renaissance
But then something happened:
- Mandy (2018): Critics loved it
- Color Out of Space (2019): Genre prestige
- Pig (2021): Career-best reviews
- The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022): Meta triumph
He became cool again. While still paying debts.
The Meta Movie
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent was perfect:
- He played himself
- Mocked his career
- Acknowledged the excess
- Critics and audiences loved it
He turned his insane life into art.
The Marriage Record
Nicolas Cage has been married five times:
- Patricia Arquette (1995-2001)
- Lisa Marie Presley (2002-2004)
- Alice Kim (2004-2016)
- Erika Koike (2019—4 days)
- Riko Shibata (2021-present)
The 4-day marriage to Erika Koike was annulled in Vegas.
The Lisa Marie Presley Marriage
He was married to Elvis's daughter:
- Met at a party
- Married after dating 2 years
- Divorced after 3 months
- He filed during an argument
He was almost a Presley.
The Current Life
Nicolas Cage today:
- Still working constantly
- Critically respected again
- Married to Riko Shibata
- Has a young daughter
- Still eccentric
The debt is apparently paid. The weirdness continues.
The Philosophy
Cage on his spending:
- "I don't take it with me"
- "These are my hobbies"
- "I was building dreams"
- No apologies for any of it
He has no regrets. That's oddly admirable.
The Legacy Question
Nicolas Cage's legacy:
- Oscar-winning actor (Leaving Las Vegas)
- Action star (The Rock, Face/Off, Con Air)
- Meme icon
- Cautionary tale
- Renaissance artist
He's all of these things simultaneously.
The Collections
He's still a collector:
- First-edition comics remain (he sold Action Comics #1 for $2.16 million)
- Still buys unusual items
- More restrained now
- But still Cage
You can't change who you are.
The Lesson
Nicolas Cage's spending teaches:
- Money runs out
- Unusual interests have costs
- Talent doesn't equal financial sense
- You can always come back
- Be yourself, consequences included
He bought a dinosaur skull, two castles, and a haunted mansion. He went broke. He worked his way back. He's still Nicolas Cage.
That's actually kind of inspiring.
Or crazy.
With Cage, it's usually both.
