The Superhero Cinematic Civil War Thread* - Part 61

[MagnarTheGreat]

Disney Reveals Spending On ‘Avengers: Doomsday’

Disney has revealed that its upcoming 'Avengers: Doomsday' movie has already cost more than double the sum it spent on 2023’s 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania'.

www.forbes.com

Bringing him back didn’t come cheap with Variety claiming that Marvel will pay the Russos $80 million to direct Doomsday and its sequel Avengers: Secret Wars whilst Downey Jr is expected to get "significantly more". Its report added that the Russos’ deal doesn’t include back-end compensation, but does contain performance escalators which kick in at the $750 million and $1 billion thresholds. That’s just the start.

As this report revealed, according to filings from Disney, the cost of making Endgame and its prequel Avengers: Infinity War came to $1.3 billion and the two upcoming follow ups are expected to top that.

Like Infinity War and Endgame, the upcoming movies are expected to be filmed back-to-back with principal photography due to start at the end of this month. Early insight into the cost comes from recently-filed documents which reveal that one month before the Russos and Downey Jr had been announced, Disney had already spent a staggering $8 million (£6.3 million) on pre-production.

A U.S. or global economic slowdown or recession can also take a bite out of the box office next year. Rising costs from tariffs and labor costs can also balloon the budget. The previous two Avenger movies were released in a more stable time pre-Disney+, pre-COVID and when more people were going to theaters than nowadays.

 

[Drizzle]

A U.S. or global economic slowdown or recession can also take a bite out of the box office next year. Rising costs from tariffs and labor costs can also balloon the budget. The previous two Avenger movies were released in a more stable time pre-COVID and when more people were going to theaters than nowadays.

And also before Disney+. Avengers is one of those tentpole movies that's safe from the "I'll just wait until it's on streaming" mentality but on the whole it didn't do a whole lot of favors for the Marvel brand and contributed a lot to the fatigue.

 

[KBX]

Whole lots of superhero fatigue there

 

[emielaen]

Kind of a gross precedent, no? This will just give us (y'all) Deadpool and Wolverine and NWH over and over again, as we can see.

Up to $130 million, already a decent sized movie budget.

Or like 10-20.

 

[Ninjablade]

$40M per film for the Russo Brothers is actual insanity. Especially since it comes with incentives like it's a freaking sports contract.

 

[Elayis]

$40M per film for the Russo Brothers is actual insanity. Especially since it comes with incentives like it's a freaking sports contract.

Video games have the same kinds of incentives too, except it's usually tied to Metacritic scores.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

If any studio is disappointed by a $2 billion hit I would be more than happy to give them my address so that they can spread some of those “disappointing”” grosses around!

I think they'll be happy with 2b, but I do not think they're spending as much as they are on these movies to just get there.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

And also before Disney+. Avengers is one of those tentpole movies that's safe from the "I'll just wait until it's on streaming" mentality but on the whole it didn't do a whole lot of favors for the Marvel brand and contributed a lot to the fatigue.

This is why they went back to the old Avengers crew.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

View attachment 127489

Whole lots of superhero fatigue there

Honest question. If there is no fatigue at all, what has happened to the majority of superhero flicks over the last few years at the box office? Some truly terrible flicks were making profit less then a decade ago. Why such a vast difference in the two Captain Marvel movies?

 

[Sithborg]

I don't know how anyone can argue that fatigue didn't happen in 2023, with what, 8 super hero movies?

 

[kguillou]

There absolutely is fatigue but the genre is not dead. Hell even i’m a bit fatigued. Whats happened is this has forced superhero movies to HAVE to be big events to make money now. You can no longer have movies like The Marvels, or a Cap 4 or an Antman 3 where they are light fun romps where you're just spending 2 fleet hours with these characters. These movies now HAVE to be No Way Home/Deadpool and Wolverine sized events with big gimmicks and surprising fan service to get people in the theater.

Audiences have become picky and those are the only kind of movies they are going to see now in droves. The ones that will generate memes and trend on social media. And i think Marvel KNOWS this now which is why theyre doing their damndest to make Fantastic Four seem like a big movie event.

 

[AndrewGilkison]

Honest question. If there is no fatigue at all, what has happened to the majority of superhero flicks over the last few years at the box office? Some truly terrible flicks were making profit less then a decade ago. Why such a vast difference in the two Captain Marvel movies?

Maybe the hard truth is that its not so much fatigue as "we don't give a **** about these new characters compared to the ones we loved, or grew up watching"

 

[Spider-Fan]

I think there is fatigue, but that people will still go out of their way for the very good to great ones. But the days of slap Character X's name on the marquee and it makes a billion simply by existing are over

 

[kguillou]

Maybe the hard truth is that its not so much fatigue as "we don't give a **** about these new characters compared to the ones we loved, or grew up watching"

Ooooo you know what…youre on to something there.

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

I think there is fatigue, but that people will still go out of their way for the very good to great ones. But the days of slap Character X's name on the marquee and it makes a billion simply by existing are over

That’s the moral of the story.

Totally agree.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Maybe the hard truth is that its not so much fatigue as "we don't give a **** about these new characters compared to the ones we loved, or grew up watching"

But that's the point. Not that long ago, people were watching everything. BvS made more money then The Batman.

 

[AndrewGilkison]

But that's the point. Not that long ago, people were watching everything. BvS made more money then The Batman.

BvS was the first ever live action big budget blockbuster Batman/Superman crossover, and had Avengers 2012 level hype. It should have made a billion dollars. The fact that it grossed more than a solo Batman reboot is not very impressive.

 

[OtherwiseKnownAs]

View attachment 127489

Whole lots of superhero fatigue there

Symptom of a deeply sick society

 

[Snow Queen]

Maybe the hard truth is that its not so much fatigue as "we don't give a **** about these new characters compared to the ones we loved, or grew up watching"

If the idea is simply people don't want to watch new characters because they don't like them compared to who they grew up with, then the question naturally becomes asking where is the audience growing up with the current ones and if they don't exist - then why?

 

[DarthSkywalker]

BvS was the first ever live action big budget blockbuster Batman/Superman crossover, and had Avengers 2012 level hype. It should have made a billion dollars. The fact that it grossed more than a solo Batman reboot is not very impressive.

What about Suicide Squad?

 

[Lily Adler]

Symptom of a deeply sick society

Seriously to watch RDJ ham and empty chairs.

 

[kguillou]

People also just simply get sick of things once theres so much of it. Every movie genre experiences it. People loved erotic thrillers and disaster movies in the 90s and then they got sick of them. People loved slasher movies and action movies in the 80s and they waned down once theres was so much of them on the market. Political thrillers of the 70s, spy movies of the 60s, westerns of the 50s, film noir of the 30s/40s. Etc etc etc

Theres just a loottt of superhero content out these days and its reached or passed its zenith. They need to work a lot harder to impress people now.

 

[flickchick85]

If the idea is simply people don't want to watch new characters because they don't like them compared to who they grew up with, then the question naturally becomes asking where is the audience growing up with the current ones and if they don't exist - then why?

We've had new characters for each new generation since the beginning of cinema. That's how it has endured. If the only thing bringing people to the cinema is the stuff previous generations grew up on, then the future of the medium is deeply f***ed.

 

[Sithborg]

I think they'll be happy with 2b, but I do not think they're spending as much as they are on these movies to just get there.

Publicly, yes, they will be all smiles. But either Feige is going to decide he wants to pursue "other interests" or he is going to scape goat another of his right hands. And frankly, seeing how Dacosta, Larson, and Zegler have been treated, I'm beginning to get theories on why Victoria Alonso was chosen to get fired.

We've had new characters for each new generation since the beginning of cinema. That's how it has endured. If the only thing bringing people to the cinema is the stuff previous generations grew up on, then the future of the medium is deeply f***ed.

And the franchises that have endured in the medium? They have changed. Godzilla, Bond, both have very, very different and recognizable eras. It is a lot like what is going on right now. People cling to what was, and in many cases, to what never was.

 

[Kane52630]

@Kane52630 I don't know where you are right now but I'm assuming you're busy making us a nice 5 and a half hour long GIF of that Doomsday chair cast announcement.