As the saying goes, it takes money to make money, andThor: Love and Thunderoffers proof of that after a stellar opening weekend both in the United States and in every other part of the world. However, it’s now been revealed how big of an investment was made into Taika Waititi’s second Marvel Studios movie.
A huge chunk ofThor: Love and Thunder’sbudget clearly went towards the film’s extensive usage of colorful CGI, which is not a rare occurrence for the MCU. However, as VFX studios continue to rack up work, it’s also not rare to see the cost of that work make these superhero blockbusters even more expensive than they were 5 or 10 years ago.
RELATED:Thor: Love And Thunder Easter Eggs
A new report from Variety confirms that Marvel Studios spent $250 million in the making ofThor:Love of Thunder, plus an extra $100m dedicated to promotional efforts for the film. This would bring Thor’s fourth MCU outing quite close to the top of the list of most expensive superhero movies ever made. To put those numbers into context, the firstThorfilm cost $150m,Thor: The Dark World’s budget was between $150-170m, andRagnarok’s bill ran up to $180m. On the other hand, Marvel Studios' other 2022 release,Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, cost $200m to make.
The trend speaks of rising costs in movie making as inflation continues to take its toll on both companies and consumers. However, consideringLove and Thunderis one of the MCU’s shortest movies, this costly budget is still rather impressive. This would only leaveAvengersteam-up movies beatingLove and Thunder’s budget, asEndgame($400M),Infinity War($365M), andAvengers: Age of Ultron($300M) continue to top the list, with the firstAvengerscrossover following closely running a $225m budget.
Naturally, filmmaking expenses don’t matter much for Marvel Studios when practically all of its movies turn in a healthy profit, though that wasn’t quite the case for some recent productions. WhileDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,Spider-Man: No Way Home,Eternals, andBlack Widowall cost $200m, the latter two clearly failed to meet Disney’s expectations, possibly running smalllosses thatDoctor Strange 2had to make up forsince Spidey’s earnings mostly go to Sony’s coffers.
Marvel Studios still appears to lack a clear-set strategyas it heads into the MCU’s Phase Four, seeing as there are currently several larger storylines in play where different superheroes find their home. AlthoughLove and Thunderis projected to do great at the box office, the current landscape for Marvel does make a movie with a more modest budget likeShang-Chi and the Legend of The Ten Ringsseem like a bigger winner than it was originally played out to be.
Thor: Love and Thunderis currently in theaters.
MORE:Thor: Love and Thunder - End Credits Scenes, Explained
