Marvel boss Kevin Feige met with the team behind sci-fi movie The Creator to learn how to keep VFX budgets down on MCU movies: "They would have been even cheaper if it wasn’t for the strikes"

Marvel boss Kevin Feige is adamant about combating Superhero fatigue and restoring the MCU back to its former glory. One way to do that is to value quality over quantity, and keep costs down – which is what he learned from Gareth Edwards’ sci-fi movie The Creator.

In an interview with Deadline, Feige said he met with the The Creator’s below-the-line heads to learn how they created such a VFX spectacle on a pretty modest budget.

Although The Creator had an $80 million production budget, the end result looked more like a $200 million movie. The team took advantage of shooting in Thailand’s beautiful landscape and augmented real-life locations with visual effects. This is impressive when compared to some of Marvel’s recent pictures, such as Thunderbolts* and Captain America: Brave New World, which both cost $180 million to make.

However, Marvel is on the right track as the studio has scaled down production costs greatly over recent years. "The movies made over the last two years have been upwards of a third cheaper than they were two years before that," said Feige. "Deadpool & Wolverine, Captain America, Thunderbolts* and Fantastic Four are all significantly cheaper than films from 2022 and 2023, and they would have been even cheaper if it wasn’t for the strikes."

But Marvel’s cost-cutting doesn’t look to be affecting its two upcoming Avengers movies, Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. According to Forbes, the two new movies will cost even more than Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame did, which neared $1 billion combined. But, it will all be worth it if the upcoming Russo Brothers projects can match the previously mentioned movies, as Avengers: Endgame alone earned $2.8 billion.

Next up for the studio is The Fantastic Four: First Steps, starring Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards), Vanessa Kirby (Sue Storm), Joseph Quinn (Johnny Storm), and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Ben Grimm), as Marvel’s new first family. The movie, which is reported to have set the studio back $200 million, is projected to have a strong opening weekend, ranging from $100 million to $110 million in the US, according to Deadline.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps releases in US theaters on July 25 and in UK cinemas on July 24. For more, check out our guide on how to watch the Marvel movies in order, and keep up with upcoming Marvel movies heading our way.