If there was ever any doubt that the Marvel Disney+ shows would look cheaper than their big-screen efforts, fans can rest easy. According to a report from Variety, Marvel’s upcoming TV shows will have budgets that are comparable to the size of feature-length films. But not just any ordinary feature film; an MCU one. The report doesn’t state any single show’s specific budget as it’s too early to nail that down. It also doesn’t state their source, just that it’s someone close to the productions.
What the report does state, however, is something quite interesting. The Disney+ shows Marvel has in the works will each be 6-8 episodes and will utilize budgets similar to an MCU movie, which is typically around $100-$150 million. This obviously doesn’t apply to the biggest movies in the series, like Avengers: Endgame. To give you a comparison, Ant-Man and its sequel have the lowest budgets in the MCU so far. Their budgets each reached around $130 million.
That’s a pretty hefty sum to spend on a TV show, regardless of episode count. But Marvel is intent on making these shows feel like they belong in their universe. And with Disney behind them, there’s no reason they shouldn’t.
This will also undoubtedly make fans happy. Marvel’s TV outings have usually fallen far behind when it comes to budgets and effects. The premiere episode in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., for example, was made for around $12-$14 million. But there were still 21 more episodes after that, and the effects budget often showed its limits. For Disney+, Marvel can hopefully deliver the high-quality fans have come to expect through their movies.
Before this report, the only thing we had to go on was the trailer for The Mandalorian. While clearly not a Marvel property, it did give a sense of how much Disney was willing to spend on shows coming to their streaming service. As we get closer to Disney+’s November 12th launch date, we should find out more about what to expect from this side of Marvel.
