Avengers: Doomsday's Reported Budget Would Make It The Most Expensive Movie In Marvel/Disney History

Avengers: Doomsday's Reported Budget Would Make It The Most Expensive Movie In Marvel/Disney History

According to a new report, the cumulative budget for Avengers: Doomsday would make it the most expensive movie ever produced by Marvel Studios or Disney...

By MarkCassidy - Apr 14, 2026 09:04 AM EST
Filed Under: Avengers: Doomsday

Nobody would be surprised to learn that Marvel Studios spent a lot of money on Avengers: Doomsday, but according to a new report, the superhero spectacle could end up becoming the most expensive movie ever produced by Marvel or Disney.

On his YouTube show, John Campea said he's been told that Doomsday has a production budget of $400 million (we're not sure if this is factoring in reshoots costs), and that the studio plans to spend another $300 million on marketing.

If this is accurate, the film would likely need to take in at least $1.5 billion just to break even.

This is totally achievable, of course, and it's worth noting that both Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame also had massive budgets (the latter was estimated to have cost between $356–$400 million before P&A).

Marvel Studios' higher-ups are said to be very pleased (depending on how much stock you happen to put in internal screening reports) with the film, and unless Doomsday turns out to be some kind of unforeseen disaster, we don't anticipate many problems at the box office when it hits theatres later this year.

Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars were hit with significant delays last year, with Doomsday now set to arrive in theaters on December 18, 2026, and Secret Wars positioned for December 17, 2027.

Both movies will be directed by the Russo brothers, who also make their MCU return after helming Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame

"Being able to create stories and explore characters within the Marvel Universe fulfilled a life-long dream of ours, and we discovered a powerful connection with audiences in each film that we made. We’re thrilled to collaborate once again with Kevin, Lou and the entire Marvel team to bring this epic adventure in storytelling to new and surprising places for both the fans and ourselves”, said The Russos in a statement after the SDCC panel.

Doomsday will star:

Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Lewis Pullman as Sentry, Florence Pugh as Yelena, Danny Ramirez as Falcon, Ian McKellen as Magneto, Sebastian Stan as Bucky, Winston Duke as M’Baku, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Kelsey Grammer as Beast, James Marsden as Cyclops, Channing Tatum as Gambit, and Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent

Along with Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Rebecca Romijn as Mystique, Patrick Stewart as Professor X, Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler, Letitia Wright as Black Panther, Tenoch Huerta Mejia as Namor, Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing, Anthony Mackie as Captain America, and, of course, Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom.

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SATW42
SATW42 - 4/14/2026, 9:32 AM
Now a bunch of people who think they know better will say it's "doomed" to fail because of this budget, thinking DISNEY of all companies didn't do an extensive cost analysis and see a bigger picture than just box office.
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 4/14/2026, 9:54 AM
@SATW42 - gasps…

But I thought this site was filled with legit box office analysts and experts?.

You mean to tell me they have been talking out of their ass…

How positively not shocking lol

Apophis71
Apophis71 - 4/14/2026, 11:14 AM
@SATW42 - Yup, and even if somehow it fails to break even at the BO, no matter what numbers are accurate or how they are spun, odds are the film WILL turn a profit for Disney in the long run and if good set up a return to more reliable profits for the franchise.

Long as it IS good in our own individual opinions and does well enough to give us more of what we want why should we really care how much a company as big as Disney makes or looses. Isn't like it is at risk of being sold to Paramount or Netflix anytime in the foreseeable future (NOT a dig at DC, I love DC too and want better from their IP's too) and if it AINT good and flops resulting in a future (and better) reboot not a HUGE problem (again in the long run) as can simply turn Secret Wars into a more definitive END and everything after into a more definitive new beginning (ie ditch and recast more than initially intended)
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 4/14/2026, 11:58 AM
@SATW42 - Yeah that's what they said the last time someone spent close to $300M marketing a superhero movie.

Bigger picture, who cares if it flops, etc.

I dunno man, you don't spend that much money marketing a film if you don't care whether or not it flops.
RichardGrayson
RichardGrayson - 4/14/2026, 9:34 AM
This movie is gonna make so much money
Wahhvacado
Wahhvacado - 4/14/2026, 9:38 AM
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HumanRubiksCube
HumanRubiksCube - 4/14/2026, 9:42 AM
they'll make it back easy on fortnite skins,toys,merch, tie in promotions etc add to that blu ray sales and other media, tv rights contracts etc

making the money back will not be a problem
slickrickdesigns
slickrickdesigns - 4/14/2026, 10:27 AM
@HumanRubiksCube - do people still buy blue rays?? I haven’t bought one since Spider-Man far from home…
Which I’ve thought about buying No Way Home since it’s not on Disney plus for some reason.
HumanRubiksCube
HumanRubiksCube - 4/14/2026, 10:34 AM
@slickrickdesigns - people with ocd and completionists. archival nerds who want a movie library at home, many reasons they still sell. alot of people still like to own the media they pay for, not rent it with extra steps
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 4/14/2026, 11:17 AM
@slickrickdesigns - Likely been on a bit of a rise buying DVD's with the run of stuff that got dumped from digital. They are not what they were sales wise but always gonna be enough wanting their own physical copies of stuff with all things nerdy for a company to make money off of them.
FleischerSupes
FleischerSupes - 4/14/2026, 9:52 AM
Doesn't mean crap if there isn't time made for character development.

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dragon316
dragon316 - 4/14/2026, 10:07 AM
@FleischerSupes - character development doesn’t always make good movies avatar didn’t have that
FleischerSupes
FleischerSupes - 4/14/2026, 10:13 AM
@dragon316 - I don't know what that is but are you saying avatar is a good movie or a bad movie then?
slickrickdesigns
slickrickdesigns - 4/14/2026, 10:30 AM
@FleischerSupes - character development?? The whole MCU is one giant interwoven story of character development. Do you need to know everything about Doom from birth to post cred of Fantastic Four for there to be character development??
bobevanz
bobevanz - 4/14/2026, 10:01 AM
This is so [frick]ed hahahahahahahaha
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 4/14/2026, 10:05 AM
Yeah, a cast of several dozen stars, will do that.
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 4/14/2026, 10:10 AM
@Clintthahamster - yep aswell as a handful of other factors such as sets etc.

Bucky74
Bucky74 - 4/14/2026, 10:08 AM
I mean with that cast and Disney’s salary alone, this was expected.
TheLobster
TheLobster - 4/14/2026, 10:14 AM
This film might cross 2 billion if it’s as good as Infinity War but even then - that’s a big climb for Marvel to make these days considering the last six years..

If they do this right however? Secret Wars could hit 3B and give Marvel a fresh start with their universe to have an even better 15 years ahead of them. I guess we’ll know by end of 2027.
KennKathleen
KennKathleen - 4/14/2026, 12:21 PM
@TheLobster - 3 Billion. You read it here first.
BobGarlen
BobGarlen - 4/14/2026, 10:18 AM
They're gambling way too much money on this. Seriously, if the budget is 400 and then you tac another 300 onto that? Depending on the theater split, they'll need 1.4-1.8 million to break even. It ain't seeing a real profit unless it hits 2 billion. I seriously doubt Marvel can pull that off. They've been pretty weak at the box office lately.
MotherGooseUPus
MotherGooseUPus - 4/14/2026, 10:18 AM
Ohhh you mean an Avengers movie with THIS many stars for one of the biggest movies ever.....

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TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 4/14/2026, 10:24 AM
Honestly if true then I think it recouping Marvel’s investment is doable since it’ll likely be one of , if not the highest grossing film of 2026.

Also just for my own curiosity , does anyone know if Campea has been right about any of his “scoops”?.
slickrickdesigns
slickrickdesigns - 4/14/2026, 10:25 AM
It’ll be up there with the force awakens and avatar. Maybe even surpass it by the time it releases.
SummersEssex
SummersEssex - 4/14/2026, 10:47 AM
It will do just fine.

But please, I just don’t understand… if production budget is 400 million with an estimated 300 million to marketing, then why does it need 1.5 billion to break even? If the answer is “because it always goes over budget” that’s weird but ok. If the answer is “because there are other costs” then don’t those count as “budget” and the budget total needs to be increased?

I just hate how we talk about it. That’s like if I build an addition on my house and as I plan that out with the contractor he says, “yup, we can do this for 50k, but plan on it costing around 100k”. Well, then 50k isn’t my budget, is it?

Tf am I missing here?
Irregular
Irregular - 4/14/2026, 11:38 AM
@SummersEssex - Because that is the rule of thumb to break even for movie blockbusters. You need to make double the amount the movie was invested in.

If a movie had in total $50 million with marketing and production...then yes, you would need $100 million to be considered in the green. Keep in mind, studios do not keep all of the box office money. There is still distribution deals that are made that take a cut of the profit and that goes the same for international.

Also, how do we determine what "profit" is from marketing? Does WB get a certain dollar amount on each Superman slushy is sold at 7/11 for a "limited time?" What if the product taste like shit? I remember those Spider-Verse burgers from BK. How much is Sony getting from that and their marketing department? It costs money and you have to account for the loses that WILL happen. Same with those "Happy Meal" toys. How much do you think studios get from that? Perhaps NOTHING. Because the point is to get awareness of the movie out there, and they are paying the company (McDonalds) to have "their team" figure it out. Same applies to the Super Bowl commercials...lots of money just being loss because there really is no gain there. It's paying for an advertisement service.

That's really what it is, marketing is to get your movie out there...to every single person you can which again...can be done at a LOSS. You have to find a way to make up for that, and the game plan is to get people aware of said movie to get people to the theaters to watch and increase the BO revenue as much as possible.

A contractor telling you "we can do this for 50K" but says "plan on it costing 100K" is obvious...the budget is 100K and the guy doesn't know how to speak. Do not work with someone like that. That's totally different.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 4/14/2026, 11:52 AM
@SummersEssex - Another factor is that Studios don't pocket 100% of ticket sales. A chunk of that stays with the theaters, between 40-50% by most estimates. So, generally, the rule of thumb is a movie has to double it's budget before it starts turning a profit.
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 4/14/2026, 12:08 PM
@Irregular - I'd guess Sony got a fixed license fee for BK, and others similarly so with big studio blockbuster films so wouldn't matter how few dodgy burgers got purchased or binned but not an expert. Isn't the same as the old days of Star Wars when Lucas made a fortune getting a cut of all the toys sales and related merch anyway as from what I understand it is an upfront license fee not a cut from sales of merch in the main with BIG Studio IP's, small studio new IP's that may still be more a cut of the profits affair. Similarly unsure how the marketing costs works as a million to make a bunch of ads tied to MacDonalds may add a million to marketing costs on paper even though it is the Burger chain paying the bulk of those advertising costs.

Certainly with McD's it is ALL based on selling IP licenses, not on actual sales, it is how that Burger chain manages to avoid most taxes in most regions by charging outlets stupid high fees for the license fee thus on paper the chains don't make enough profit to pay taxes (and the license registered in a low tax nation, or worse they double dip on double dip tax exclusions so avoid BOTH US and a foreign nations taxation by telling both they are paying in the other)
tRuckRogers46A
tRuckRogers46A - 4/14/2026, 10:50 AM
Isn't $100 million of that budget RDJ's salary?
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 4/14/2026, 11:09 AM
The more pressure from them to deliver, the more it will result to an unwatcheable slop. 1.5 to just break even is just laughable.

Shouldve went to a full reboot without having to pay aging stars.
Methos5000
Methos5000 - 4/14/2026, 12:09 PM
Lol no. When the "final real" budget comes out it will be over 500 mil. Why? Because it's filming in the UK. Meaning the higher the budget, the bigger the tax credit. Currently the most "expensive" movie ever for Marvel is The Marvels at 374 million. Shot almost entirely in the volume, with a 95% no name cast and special effects done almost entirely in house. The budgets are bullshit.
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 4/14/2026, 12:40 PM
@Methos5000 - Also why best not to trust tax filings, esp if in the UK, as the accountants will inflate those as much as they can get away with WAY beyond out of pocket expenses in order to increase those tax rebates. Then on the flipside accountants will inflate on paper costs to reduce on paper profits to REDUCE taxes as much as they can get away with, why big companies exploit the global economy model so much as more easy to avoid taxes/increase rebates by shuffling the numbers from one region to another all the time to the point some of them get away with MASSIVE profits and near ZERO taxation (IE aint Europe or others exploiting America but American megacompanies and other huge multinationals exploiting EVERYONE).

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