The budget for the upcoming Captain Marvel sequel The Marvels has been revealed, and it was a very expensive movie. The film will bring together Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers with a pair of other heroes – Teyonah Parris’ Monica Rambeau and Iman Vellani’s Ms. Marvel – to handle a new threat. Marvel Studios apparently had a lot of confidence in the film, as it now ranks as one of the more expensive entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to date.
According to Forbes, the final budget for The Marvels is $219.8 million. A previous report suggested that the film only cost $130 million. Turns out, that figure was pretty low. The studio had originally spent $274.8 million on the film, but $55 million worth of government subsidies brought that figure down quite a bit. That makes it nearly as expensive as 2012’s The Avengers ($225 million), and more expensive than Spider-Man: No Way Home, Black Panther, Iron Man 3, and several other MCU films, all of which cost $200 million. For further context, 2019’s Captain Marvel cost $175 million.
That said, it probably seemed like a reasonable enough investment. Captain Marvel made $1.12 billion at the box office. But that was after Avengers: Infinity War and right before Avengers: Endgame. Hype for the MCU was at an all-time high. Things have changed. This year we saw Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania disappoint with $463 million worldwide against a $200 million budget. Meanwhile, all three DC movies this year – Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Flash and Blue Beetle – have flopped. The only real winners have been Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Superhero movies are not as dominant as they once were.
Here is the synopsis for The Marvels.
“Carol Danvers AKA Captain Marvel has reclaimed her identity from the tyrannical Kree and taken revenge on the Supreme Intelligence. But unintended consequences see Carol shouldering the burden of a destabilized universe. When her duties send her to an anomalous wormhole linked to a Kree revolutionary, her powers become entangled with that of Jersey City super-fan Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, and Carol’s estranged niece, now S.A.B.E.R. astronaut Captain Monica Rambeau.”
Nia DaCosta (Candyman) directed the film. The cast also includes Zawe Ashton, Gary Lewis, Seo-Jun Park, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur, Saagar Shaikh and Samuel L. Jackson. Megan McDonnell, DaCosta, Elissa Karasik and Zeb Wells penned the screenplay. Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Mary Livanos and Matthew Jenkins serve as executive producers, with Kevin Feige producing.
The Marvels is set to hit theaters on November 10.
What do you think? Should Marvel try and lower budgets for these movies? Are you excited about the sequel? Join in on the conversation over on Facebook or Twitter!
