Disney made an estimated $296.4 million loss at the box office on just two of its Marvel superhero movies in 2023 according to analysis of recently-released financial statements.
They reveal that the cost of making The Marvels and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania came to a staggering $762.4 million (£609.3 million) before Disney banked $124.9 million (£99.4 million) in government incentives bringing its net spending on the movies down to $637.5 million. They both bombed at the box office.
According to industry analyst Box Office Mojo, the movies grossed a combined $682.2 million with theaters typically retaining 50% of the takings and the remainder going to the studio. This reflects the findings of film industry consultant Stephen Follows who interviewed 1,235 film professionals in 2014 and concluded that, according to studios, theaters keep 49% of the takings on average. It would give Disney just $341.1 million from The Marvels and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. No expense was spared on them.
…
Disney does not publicly discuss how much it spends on specific productions and did not respond to a request for comment. Budgets are usually a closely-guarded secret. This is because studios combine the costs of individual pictures in their overall expenses and their filings don’t itemize how much was spent on each one. Films made in the UK are exceptions and both The Marvels and Quantumania fall into this category.
Studios shoot in the UK to benefit from its Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit (AVEC) which gives them a cash reimbursement of up to 25.5% of the money they spend in the country.
To qualify for the reimbursement, at least 10% of the production costs need to relate to activities in the UK. In order to demonstrate this to the UK government, studios tend to set up a separate production company in the country for each movie they make there.
The companies have to file financial statements which shine a spotlight on their budgets. They reveal everything from the headcount and salaries to the level of reimbursement and the total costs. Studios directly receive the revenue from theater tickets, streaming and Blu-ray sales and carry the costs of marketing as the function of the UK companies is purely making the movies.
This analysis isn’t acknowledging the important fact that The Marvel’s was dogwater in its best moments and pure cringe at all other times.
I didn’t mind the Marvels. I thought it had problems, and parts were cringy if you’re not into it. But the biggest flaw was the writing. It’s like they had these ideas for set pieces, and then tried to bring it all together as an afterthought. It wasn’t as bad as certain people wanted it to be.
Quantumania was unfinished. It was like they ran out of money and time and just submitted the minimally viable movie. Paul Rudd is always charming, and the actress playing Cassie/Stature is going to be a net plus to the Young Avengers. I think Michelle Pfeiffer was poorly utilized, and of course Kang became a PR problem. But the writing had some high points. The story was engaging, the stakes were real, and the characters all had arcs. The CG was shit, and the Giant Goof schtick is overplayed. Letting go of the physics is a prerequisite for any Superhero movie.
They did poorly because Disney was rushing. They wanted to generate energy and enthusiasm by deliberately releasing each new movie before the last one was available on streaming. But instead of creating fomo, they fostered indifference because the product wasn’t good enough. Nothing post-endgame felt like must-watch content. The tie-ins were half-assed, because the studio clearly did not have faith that they would ever get to wrap up each dangling plot thread.
The Marvels was better than Eternals. Quantumania was better than Wakanda Forever. None of them are great movies, but none are as bad as anti-woke or anti-superhero critics suggest.
Werewolf by night was lit. I loved that one. Man thing character aside, it was fun and suspenseful.
I do not understand Paul Rudd’s appeal at all. He just seems like a normal dork that isn’t ugly. Nothing against him, I just don’t get the gushing everyone else seems to do.
Have you seen his role as Celery Man?
Have now. Still not seeing the appeal, but then it takes more than seeing someone in something funny for me to like them specifically. I’m far too old to be fanatic about much, and Tim and Eric style silly sketches are hit and miss at best. Sure, the hits are really funny, but absurd is not funny in and of itself to me.
I liked the Marvels =(
Meanwhile, I’ve heard such bad things about Quantumania that I haven’t watched it yet lol.
I liked Quantumania. Sometimes you just want something fun and it delivered.
I also liked Quantumania. It wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t “Thor 4” level of bad either.
Hm… Maybe I’ll give it a try sometime then.
That’s kind of how I felt about The Marvels and the other Ant-Man movies. They weren’t mind-blowing, but they were mostly a fun time. Not too long, well paced, pretty light hearts with some creative action scenes that didn’t hit Shang Chi or Winter Soldier heights, but we’re entertaining enough.
The bad guy in Marvels was 100% forgettable. I can’t tell you who it was or what their motives were.
But the main cast had great chemistry.
100%. The villain kinda sucked. The actress was alright but they gave her nothing to work with. Marvel has that problem a lot. They completely wasted Christian Bale in the last Thor movie imo.
I’m a 40 year old dude and thought it was fun. Not my favourite, but it clearly wasn’t made for me. I feel like it’s the kind of thing that will really connect with young girls and later on it will be looked back on fondly.
Dads, watch it with your daughters. You won’t regret it.
Quantumania was fun too. Could’ve been better, but don’t believe all the hate.
I agree on quantamania, it’s a fun turn your brain off movie. Introduces some cool concepts to the universe and has some interesting visuals. Marvel movies aren’t meant to be your forest gumps, people seem to forget that sometimes.
I enjoyed the Marvels but I rate the Captain Marvel highly.
I thought Quantumania was pretty pointless, doubly now Kang has been dropped.
Sounds like most of the marvel movies
That’s completely unfair. There was really good stuff in the first act, the writers played into the tension between the three Marvels quite well. Everything after that was boring and by-the-book, but it wasn’t bad.