Marvel Studios‘ upcoming feature film The Marvels has an even bigger budget than previously reported.
Vanity Fair recently claimed that The Marvels had a budget of $130 million. Per Forbes, however, Disney (Marvel‘s parent company) has now revealed that it actually spent $274.8 million on the Captain Marvel sequel, which was shot in the United Kingdom. On that note, though, Disney also banked a $55 million subsidy from the U.K. government, bringing its net spending on The Marvels down to $219.8 million. Vanity Fair has since removed the $130 million figure from its original article.
Nia DaCosta’s MCU film makes history
In any case, The Marvels now holds the distinction of being the highest-budgeted movie to ever be helmed by a Black woman. The Marvel Cinematic Universe film is directed and co-written by Nia DaCosta, who is perhaps best known for helming the acclaimed 2021 iteration of Candyman. The Marvels’ newly claimed record previously belonged to Disney’s 2018 iteration of A Wrinkle in Time, which Ava DuVernay directed on a budget of $100 million.
That said, The Marvels’ net budget of approximately $220 million does still come with its challenges. According to Forbes, the film will have to make $439.6 million at the box office in order to break even. In theory, this should be an easy goal to hit. After all, the film’s predecessor, 2019’s Captain Marvel, grossed a whopping $1.131 billion worldwide. However, Marvel Studios’ box office numbers have taken a hit in recent years, partially due to inflation and COVID-19 resulting in moviegoers being more selective with what they go see.
2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home was the last MCU film to enter the billion-dollar club. It was also the first to do so since 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home (which itself released shortly after Captain Marvel). Some other recent entries have come close to hitting that mark — such as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — while others have fallen well short.
The Marvels is the third big-screen entry in Phase Five of the MCU. The first, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, grossed only $476 million worldwide on a budget of $200 million. The second, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, was significantly more successful, grossing $845.6 million on a budget of $250 million.
What is The Marvels about?
In addition to being a sequel to Captain Marvel, The Marvels follows up on the Disney+ series WandaVision and Ms. Marvel. The film stars Brie Larson as Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau/Photon, Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel, and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury.
“In Marvel Studios’ The Marvels, Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel has reclaimed her identity from the tyrannical Kree and taken revenge on the Supreme Intelligence,” an official synopsis for the film reads. “But unintended consequences see Carol shouldering the burden of a destabilized universe,” it continues. “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. Together, this unlikely trio must team up and learn to work in concert to save the universe as ‘The Marvels.’”
The Marvels opens in theaters on Friday, November 10.
