Ever since Avengers: Infinity War was announced as being the commencement of the culmination of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) as we know it, there’s been sufficient talk about the movie’s budget. The said movie is less than 3 weeks away from release and we still don’t have much of a concrete idea about how much it cost to make. A new interview from The Hollywood Reporter though gives an idea on exactly what kind of figures are we up for.
THR interviewed Marvel Studios’ Victoria Alonso, one of the three key people including Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige and Producer Louis D’Esposito responsible for the MCU as we know it. In one of their questions, THR referred to the movie’s budget as being higher than $300 million and while it’s not an exact number, it can still be treated as some sort of confirmation on the matter. Here’s the snippet in question:
Marvel’s next film is Avengers: Infinity War. With a budget upwards of $300 million, is it the biggest movie you’ve worked on?
Infinity War is a dream come true. Everybody has had other journeys, but this is sort of the moment in time where their journeys collide. We didn’t have everyone there all the time. That only happened for two or three days.
Fans will recall initial rumors about the budget for Infinity War and Avengers 4 being in the range of $1 billion. While no concrete sources were attached to the news and Marvel didn’t officially confirm it either, it wasn’t hard to believe given the massive scale of both movies. This budget makes Avengers: Infinity War only the second movie to exceed $300 million following the humongous $378 million cost of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides which remains the most expensive movie of all time. It will likewise also come close to Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End and Marvel’s counterpart DC Comics’ Justice League, both of which ended up with a $300 million budget. Of course, in the case of Justice League, it was the extensive reshoots and the money spent removing Superman Henry Cavill’s moustache via CGI that were largely responsible for the budget overruns.
At one point, such a budget would have attracted huge eyeballs and gasps but times have since changed. Once upon a time, James Cameron’s Titanic at $200 million was considered to be a gigantic movie budget of epic proportions that threatened to sink the movie at the box office. That didn’t happen though and the movie ended up being handsomely rewarded at the box office. That was 1997. Since then, $200 million has become the standard unofficial budget allocated to big-budget summer blockbuster releases. Several of Marvel Studios’ own movies are budgeted in that range with their Avengers movies running even higher – The Avengers cost $220 million to make while Avengers: Age of Ultron went as far as $278 million. It won’t be long before $300 million becomes the next $200 million.
What do you think about the budget of Infinity War? Do you think it’ll go much higher than $300 million and eclipse On Stranger Tides as the officially costliest movie ever produced? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. Avengers: Infinity War arrives on April 27.
