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The new Marvel shows on the Disney Plus streaming service aren't going to do things by halves. According to a new report, the likes of Falcon and the Winter Soldier, WandaVision, and the Hawkeye series (which may star Hailee Steinfeld as Clint Barton's protege) could be getting budgets to rival some MCU movies.
Variety states Marvel Studios is going all-in on its Disney Plus productions, with sources indicating budgets "comparable to a Marvel film project." For context, the lowest Phase Three budget was Doctor Strange, at around $160m. Variety has also thrown around numbers of between $100m-$150m, though nothing has yet been confirmed on that front.
Big money in television budgets isn't new news. 15 years ago, Lost's pilot episode cost a whopping $14m on its own, yet potential runs of "six to eight episodes" could tip the per-episode cost north of $15m for some MCU series if the rumours are true.
However, it is indicative of Marvel (and new Star Wars producer Kevin Feige) making serious waves in the television sphere. So much so, that there are now also suggestions put forward in the report that Marvel Television – the separate wing of Marvel that housed the likes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and the Netflix Marvel shows – will be replaced almost entirely by Marvel Studios' multi-million-dollar operation. That may also clue us in on why Ghost Rider was cancelled last week.
With several Marvel Phase 4 entries to come on Disney Plus, including She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel, and Moon Knight just over the horizon, we could be entering a new Age of television, one where $100m budgets – and MCU-style, big-screen quality – isn't an outlier, but the new normal.
