Looking at box office and the cost of doing mega-franchise business.It’s no secret that the latest Marvel film, Captain America: Brave New World, didn’t exactly light the world on fire in terms of critical response, fan response, or box office. In fact, on the latter front some folks have been doom-watching as Brave New World limps along, making money each weekend since its release, but not really making MCU money.
The thing about Hollywood movie budgets is it’s always difficult to track how much money actually went into a film. Yes, budgets will be cited by “studio insiders” and the like, but there’s no real way to know how accurate those figures are unless you’re a number-cruncher on the inside – in this case at Disney or Marvel. And sometimes damage control and image perception will impact the budgets that are reported. Damage control and image perception? In Hollywood? Who knew!
Captain America: Brave New World GalleryCaptain America: Brave New World Box Office NumbersIn the case of Captain America: Brave New World, which as of this writing has been out for four weekends and earned $371 million worldwide (according to Box Office Mojo), there was definitely damage control to do. Amid increasing doom-and-gloom reports surrounding the MCU overall, there’s also the apparently troubled production history of the film to consider, which was said to include difficult test screenings, expensive reshoots, and even the addition of a new villain character (Giancarlo Esposito’s Sidewinder) to the plot.
The Brave New World budget that has been reported by trade outlets like Variety and The Hollywood Reporter is $180 million, but that seems low considering the reported (at least) 22 days of reshoots, and indeed, some well-sourced industry observers indicate that the final budget was significantly higher. According to The Hot Mic, the budget was in the range of $300 million, while Joanna Robinson and Dave Gonzalez, who wrote the book MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios, have said their sources peg the movie as costing closer to $380 million. Bear in mind there’s also the matter of P&A (prints and advertising) costs, which would be in the tens of millions at the very least if not higher for an MCU blockbuster (Variety pegs P&A for Brave New World at $100 million). And then there’s the revenue split that the studio has to share with theater owners!
When Marvel Movie Budgets Stop MatteringSo take the $300 million figure as an example. If that was the total cost for Marvel, then the common wisdom in Hollywood bookkeeping is that the film would need to make $600 million before the studio has even broken even. That clearly will not happen in theaters as the film is slowing down substantially and nearing the end of its theatrical run.
Now all this said, things get much hazier when it comes to the value of having, say, Captain America: Brave New World always available as one of the titles on your streaming service. Or when you can keep selling merchandise based on these characters. Or when you’re setting them up for their next big Avengers movie, which is likely to make way more money than Brave New World has.
This is Hollywood magic, folks, only not the good kind. As underwhelming as the bulk of the post-Endgame MCU has been, there’s a safety net component to being part of a shared universe. It’s also why budgets vs. box office comparisons are both unknowable and not the real issue. While an MCU movie can tank, it still serves the purpose of keeping the series moving and hence is easier to excuse in the grand scheme of things. A standalone movie with no franchise ties, however, has to stand on its own two feet. This is why things are that much harder for the Mickey 17s of the world these days.
Is releasing a stinker like Brave New World the cost of doing business for a shared universe mega-franchise these days?
Is releasing a stinker like Brave New World the cost of doing business for a shared universe mega-franchise these days? You gotta keep the factory line running, as Lucille Ball learned all those years ago. And if that means every now and then stuffing your face full of chocolate that you don’t really even want, at least you know it comes out in the wash in the end.
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