It’s an easy thing to picture: executives over at the House of Mouse leaned back in their chairs, feet up on the desk and smoking a big, old cigar. After all, Avengers: Endgame is among the most profitable films in box office history. It’s already cleared the $2 billion mark, and is well on its way to becoming the highest grossing film ever made.
But that’s apparently not what things are looking like at Disney.
During the company’s quarterly financial report, Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy put into words some of the drawbacks of making an epic the likes of Avengers: Endgame, saying:
“Given the size of the cast involved…and the cost required to produce a film of that scale and magnitude and length, while we expect results from this film to be terrific, they will [still] be hampered somewhat by the cost structure.”
When things like critical acclaim, audience satisfaction and story completion are taken out of the equation, and all you’re left with are the cold, hard numbers, you realize McCarthy has a valid point. In no way, with all the star power (we know Robert Downey Jr. made $75 million off this project alone), CGI, visual effects and marketing at play here was Endgame a cheap production. In fact, you’d be naive to think that it was.
And while it may make your head spin trying to imagine how $2 billion could possibly be a disappointing figure, you can also understand the argument in the context of last year’s Infinity War. While this film reportedly grossed the same amount, its profits are said to have been only $500 million. I use the term “only” lightly, but it brings up an interesting question when compared to movies that cost a lot less to make.
But that’s not a question for fans of Avengers: Endgame to lose sleep over. To put it simply, Disney gives them what they want, and we give them what they want. The MCU is the cinematic equivalent of a gold mine, so don’t worry, it isn’t going anywhere. There’s still plenty of digging to be done.
