Culture news It’s the cheapest Marvel series in the MCU: it cost almost 6 times less than Secret Invasion
The MCU and television series are a love affair that has lasted since the launch of Disney Plus a few years ago… and it is clear that it has cost the company dearly, sometimes in every sense of the word . Fortunately, Echo counterbalances all of this.
A budget revised downwards
It was only last December that the MCU laid its new stone in its gigantic building: this is called Echo and takes the form of a mini-series, broadcast on Disney Plus. And for once, it denotes a bit of what has been done so far on the SVOD platform: all the episodes were made available at once (instead of weekly programming as is customary ), there are only five episodes and the project is linked to the Marvel Spotlight label, created for the occasion.
And above all, Echo breaks a real Marvel Cinematic Universe record: it’s the least expensive live-action television series! According to Forbes, the production budget was “only” forty million dollars. If we put quotation marks, it is because although the sum obviously remains substantial, it is incommensurable with Secret Invasion and its 225 million dollars or She-Hulk and its 212 million dollars. Two huge critical failures and moreover, the insolent budget of She-Hulk visibly cut off any desire for Disney to make a potential second season.
Less, but better
As a reminder, when Marvel Studios first announced that it wanted to make series, the entity stated that the average and planned budget range would be around $25 million per episode. A staggering sum actually deployed on Falcon and the Winter Sale, Moon Knight or season 2 of Loki (around $150 million) or Wanda Vision and HawkEye (around $200 million).
Only here, by dint of overbidding and above all overproductivity, the public didn’t really have time to follow and found themselves somewhat out of breath ; above all, Disney’s desire to release huge projects quickly has restricted the studios’ creativity. Even the special effects suffered terriblywhich was immediately apparent: a phenomenon that also applies to MCU films, by the way.
In short, Disney has obviously realized this and seems to be reviewing its strategy somewhat: from now on, the MCU will do a little less, but above all will try to do better and differently. For example, Deadpool 3 will be the only feature film in the extended universe next year and the Marvel Spotlight label, to which Echo is attached but also the future Blade and Daredevil Born Again, was designed especially for more violent and darker films and series.
If we add to this the future arrival of mutants (and therefore the X-Men), the Fantastic Four or even the recent integration of Marvel series from Netflix (like Dardevil) within the MCU, Marvel is certainly playing a decisive new card. To be continued.
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