Robert Downey Jr. is reportedly getting more than $80 million and some serious perks to return to the MCU as Doctor Doom. And not only that, but the Russo Brothers are reportedly being offered $80 million to return, and a sweet production deal as well.
The news comes via Variety, which reveals that to get Downey Jr. as the villain for Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, the actor is getting “significantly more” than $80 million. He’s also getting “private jet travel, dedicated security and a whole ‘trailer encampment’,” per the report. That’s more than the Russo Brothers are getting to direct the two flicks, which is a paltry by comparison $80 million. However, they’ll make more money if the movie(s) gross more than $750 million, or $1 billion, which is almost guaranteed at this point. And in addition, they’ll get to produce the movies under their AGBO banner, something that just doesn’t happen with Marvel movies nowadays.
Is this worth it? I’m no financial analyst, but I’d say it very much depends on what the goal is here. If the goal is to make us regular folks weep with envy we won’t make as much in two lifetimes as Robert Downey Jr. will in six months? Sure, mission accomplished. In addition, Disney and Marvel are essentially making a safe bet here. RDJ will get butts in seats, and as noted above while having folks with TBD star power coast on the Avengers franchise name is one thing, having RDJ above the title in an Avengers movie is a hit.
The Russo Brothers perhaps less so… They’ve proven they’re not necessarily a draw on their own, based on the performance of their films and TV shows post-Avengers: Endgame like The Gray Man, and Citadel. Both hits, but not cultural markers in the same way as their movies for Marvel. But again, this is Disney literally banking on a pair of directors who have shepherded four hits for the studio anyway. They could fail, but there’s less of a chance of that than with an untested director. Or directors.
The question that really only matters to Disney becomes: how do these movies make a profit? If this report is correct, these Avengers movies already cost about $200 million (guesstimating here) without any other stars signed, no production or marketing budget, etc., etc. These will easily balloon to “most expensive movies ever made” status without lifting another finger. So is that a safe bet?
Though Hollywood is notoriously secretive about budgets, Star Wars: The Force Awakens may have cost around $447 million, before marketing. There’s a world where these two Avengers films cost $1 billion before even getting released, meaning that’d each need to make north of $1 billion before Disney starts to see the profit.
But again, that only matters to Disney. And as long as Avengers 5 and 6 hit that billion mark, and are the “number one movie in the world!!” that’s enough to say the Marvel brand is strong. It’s an advertising play more than a creative one. They don’t need to make money on the movies, because the money comes from the toys, theme parks, and cruises anyway.
So yeah, while these sound like insane paydays on paper, they’re essentially marketing costs. It all makes total sense. Meanwhile, I’ll just be over here writing about their paydays while stressing about paying my rent this month.
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