Comic book blockbusters don’t come cheap, and the average cost of a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie is roughly $195 million, ranging from the relatively thrifty $110 million budget of Ant-Man to the colossal $365 million spent on Avengers: Age of Ultron, although the box office returns have made it more than worth the investment.
Somewhat surprisingly, the MCU’s Homecoming and Far From Home are the least expensive Spider-Man movies to follow in the wake of Sam Raimi’s $139 million original, with Jon Watts’ duology reported to have set Marvel and Sony back $175 million and $160 million respectively.
However, given that this year’s No Way Home is widely accepted to be throwing the multiverse into the mix, there’s every reason to believe that the budget could wind up greater than the $258 million spent on Spider-Man 3, which was the most expensive movie ever made at the time. In fact, insider Daniel Richtman is now claiming that the two studios are concerned that the costs on No Way Home are beginning to spiral out of control, although that’s worse news for Sony than Marvel.
As per the new deal agreed to when the web-slinger’s future was up in the air, Marvel Studios contribute 25% of the financing in return for 25% of the profits, as well as retaining the merchandising rights. Sony, meanwhile, endured a barren 2020 as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to discover that a big superhero epic potentially going over budget is setting some alarm bells ringing behind the scenes.
The good news is that by all accounts, Spider-Man: No Way Home is a lock to sail past the billion dollar mark at the box office, and both parties will be keeping their fingers crossed the theatrical industry is up and running at close to full capacity by the time it arrives so that they can recoup their investment and then some.
