Why Avengers Endgame Cost 400 Million To Make
Why Avengers: Endgame Cost 400 Million to Make
Top 10 Best Avengers Endgame Moments
You’ve gotta spend money to make money. Don’t believe us? Just ask Marvel Studios. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re breaking down all the reasons why Avengers: Endgame came with such a hefty price tag. To be clear, movie budgeting isn’t an exact science, as many of the finer details are approximate or generally unreported. That said, it’s safe to say that whatever the number really is, it’s plenty big enough to warrant some investigation. So with that, put on your Professor Hulk-sized glasses and let’s get cracking. Before we get down to the nitty-gritty aspects of the production, let’s get some perspective on the matter. With a reported budget of $356 million, “Avengers: Endgame” is officially the third-most expensive film of all time, sandwiched in between its predecessors “Age of Ultron” and “Infinity War.” What’s the most expensive film of all time you ask? Why, it’s none other than the fourth entry in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, “On Stranger Tides,” which was made for $379 million back in 2011. However, it’s worth noting that certain expenses don’t make it into the final tallies - more on that later. Marvel’s big names don’t come cheap. With upwards of sixty named characters filling out the “Endgame” playbill, so to speak, it’s safe to assume that a large chunk of that budget went to the cast. While the specific salaries for every actor have yet to be disclosed, we can say pretty definitively what each of the major players took home for their troubles. Seeing as the movie places more emphasis on the original six Avengers, it’s not surprising that many of them earned similar paychecks, with Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, and Jeremy Renner each pulling in roughly $15 million. That’s already $75 million for those of you keeping score at home. Robert Downey Jr., on the other hand, plays in a totally different league, with many reporting he took in at least $75 million on his own, and that he could have easily earned $200 million for both “Infinity War” and “Endgame” combined. That’s quite the step up from getting a measly $500,000 upfront for the original “Iron Man” in 2008. Again, that’s just six actors in what is arguably the biggest ensemble in a blockbuster of all time. You also have to assume a lot of them have backend deals in their contracts that ensure they see a good amount of those box office dollars, too. Seeing as so many factors are at play in the actual filming process of a movie, the specific expenses therein are seldom reported. However, given the scope of the project and the length of the shoot, one need only know they funnelled in quite a bit of money to that set. To throw some more perspective in there, the average film will shoot for somewhere between one and two months. “Avengers: Endgame” had a shoot that went on for five months, with another month and change thrown in for reshoots. Fortunately, Marvel was wise to film back-to-back with “Infinity War,” which went on for six months before it, bringing the production on the two films to an entire year. Again, some more money was assuredly saved from the majority of the time being spent at Pinewood Studios thanks to the Georgia tax break. Still, all that said, it was a long process, and it did not come cheap. While they create the biggest fireworks in your favorite blockbusters, it’s no secret that visual effects artists make relatively zilch in the Hollywood machine. While we could ramble on about how they ought to make more, we think the visuals for “Avengers: Endgame” speak for themselves. As is typically the case, Marvel collaborated with a slew of effects houses to bring their Infinity Saga to life, most notably Industrial Light & Magic, which any “Star Wars” fan will know as being born in a galaxy far, far away. While the action set-pieces in “Endgame” are a bit more spread out than “Infinity War’s”, the climactic final battle undoubtedly required a lot of meticulous crafting and funds. Again, there’s no official word on how much they spent, but considering how good of a job they did, it was worth every cent. Some fans have claimed the film didn’t even need a promotional campaign since everyone was pretty much sold on it from the way “Infinity War” ended. So it stands to reason those people would be surprised by how much Marvel actually spent marketing the film. Indeed, according to Deadline, upwards of $200 million was spent promoting the film, the largest ever tally from Marvel Studios. Traditional advertisements aside, plenty of cross-promotion was done as well, with the studio partnering with the likes of Audi, Coca-Cola, Geico, McDonald’s and Google, just to name a few. To that effect, seeing as promotional expenses are not included in a movie’s budget, that roughly $400 million price tag suddenly goes way up. Even with all those expenses, “Avengers: Endgame” turned a profit virtually overnight, grossing $1.2 billion opening weekend. As of June 2019, it has blown away expectations by becoming one of the biggest money-earners of all time by raking in $2.7 billion, more than making its money back. When paired with “Infinity War,” the two films reportedly cost $1 billion to make - yeah, with a B - and yet together have pulled in nearly $4.8 billion, leading us to believe that some movies are just too big to fail.
