$ 234 million costs of the lowest rated delivery in Disney’s MCU

The costs of the lowest valued episode in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) came to light today in the Disney archives.

Called Secret invasionThe Disney+ streaming series debuted in 2023 and seemed to be a accurate hit. Based on a beloved comic book series, Secret invasion Samuel L. Jackson and Oscar winner Olivia Colman played the leading role as rival secret agents who detect green form-changing aliens who had infiltrated the government.

It was invoiced as a tense political thriller in the same spirit as Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier And Captain America: Civil War Movies. Both were acclaimed and threw a combined $ 1.9 billion at the cash register Secret invasion Good. Although he had the wind in his sails, it became Marvel’s biggest misunderstanding.

Secret invasion Debuted about Disney+ at the second lowest audience of each MCU streaming series, while only 994,000 viewers viewed it in the first five days according to media analysts Samba TV.

The worst was yet to come when critics scored the last episode only 7% on review -aggregator Rotten Tomatoes -a record low for an MCU show. The consensus of the critics was pronounced and described the final as being “so wrongly assessed that most MCU fans want to keep the secret for their collective memory.”

Disney did the opposite and expanded the reach of the show after it became clear that it was not a dream ticket on Disney+. The first three episodes of the show met Hulu only four weeks after they initially debuted on his flagship streaming platform. “Not a good sign for Disney+,” said Jonas Campbell, expert in the media industry. “For me this sounds like Disney’s prestige content does not serve his goal: growing subs.” There is no doubt that it was far from a favorite of fans.

General, Secret invasion 43% was rated on rotten tomatoes in more than 5,000 public reviews, while 205 critics gave an average of 53%. In his assessment of the show, the Financial times wrote that “where it should be tight and elliptical, it is insistingly talkative and overripe with exhibition; where it might be quietly, it flashes between scenes of neatly choreographed action and lethargic exchanges.”

The slow pacing was a frequently appropriate case Rolling stone Writing that “nothing really works. The tone is too Dour, especially because there is a precious small tension or tension.” Following this, The Hollywood Reporter added that “for the most part, Secret invasion Is more dour and even boring than you would expect from his John Le Carré/Graham Greene attributes. “They benefited.

It is remarkable that, despite the fact that it has largely been put in the corridors of power and shady city streets, the costs of the six -part series came to a stunning $ 234.2 million and there is absolutely no doubt about their accuracy.

Although they take place at different locations around the world, Secret invasion Was filmed in the historic Pinewood Studios outside London and on location in the city. One of the bases of the Aliens was in the hip district of Brixton and the streets of London even doubled for Moscow.

Jackson and Co also ventured northern and filmed scenes in the less flashy cities of Leeds, Halifax and Huddersfield. It is far removed from Tinsel Town and this seems to be a spotlight on the other secret costs for making streaming shows.

Studios shoot in the United Kingdom to take advantage of his audiovisual edition credit (AVEC) that gives them a cash reimbursement of a maximum of 25.5% of the money they release in the country.

To be eligible for reimbursement, at least 10% of the production costs must relate to activities in the UK to prove this to the government, Studios has set up a separate production company in the UK for every show they make there. The companies must submit legally binding financial statements that reveal everything, from the workforce and the salaries to the total costs and the level of reimbursement. A little detective work is needed to get the information.

The companies usually have code names so that they do not draw attention to fans when submitting permits to film on location. Counting the code names with the productions for which they are responsible requires deep industrial knowledge that my colleague and I have built up in almost 15 years of reporting.

We are the only journalists worldwide who specialize in handling the financial statements of British film production companies for National Media and we have reported this for more than 10 leading titles, including The Times of London” The guardian” The daily Telegraaf” The independent and the London Evening Stand.

As soon as the code name is correctly added to the show, the annual accounts can be consulted to reveal how much it has to be made. The Disney -subsidiary behind Secret invasion Gras-Fed Productions UK is mentioned in a nod to the green hue of the aliens and, as at all British companies, the financial statements are released in phases long after the period to which they relate. This starts during pre-production and continues after the premiere to give the production team time to ensure that all bills are paid.

If this author unveiled In the UKs Daily Express Newspaper, in just over two years until the end of September 2022, Disney spent $ 187.1 million (£ 166.2 million) Secret invasion. That included all the filming and part of post production when the form -changing aliens were added to digital effects.

Filming packed in April 2022, but Jackson later confirmed that he would return to London to work on Rescoots who allegedly lasted a total of four months. This even concerned a new writer who was hired to work on the extra material that was finished filming in September 2022.

The following set files largely included the post-production period and like this report revealed, they showed that in the year until September 30, 2023, Secret invasion Costs of $ 37.5 million (£ 30.7 million) that would “be expected to be about the production budget.” Even that was not the end of the story.

Today’s files show that another $ 9.6 million (£ 7.2 million) was spent in the year until September 30, 2024 Secret invasion “In accordance with the expectations of management.” It brings the total expenditure for the show to $ 234.2 million with only minimal costs that are likely to be seen in the following sets of archives.

This gives Secret invasion A cost of $ 54.1 million per hour, which is a huge 39 times higher than the minimum expenditure of $ 1.4 million (£ 1 million) that are needed to get the reimbursement.

Disney has submitted a total credit of $ 47.7 million (£ 41.1 million) Secret invasion bring his net outputs to the show to $ 186.5 million, which, perhaps not coincidentally, is almost identical to the sum on which it is spent Star Wars spin -off The acolyte Last year. This suggests that Disney has set $ 187 million as the target spending for streaming shows that De Greenlight received in the Pandemie and the studio has done an impressive work to stick to it.

Since then, the costs have fallen slightly, as Marvel Studios Chief Kevin Feige recently revealed in a interview of Variety. He explained that after the costs began to balloon in the aftermath of the Pandemie, Marvel “the budget began to sharpen”. Given the lukewarm reception that Secret invasion receiving that is not a bad thing.