While Marvel was bought by Disney last year, it’s still being run as a pretty much autonomous unit, making it’s own movie and planning its own future. However the company seems to have now realised it’s getting to the end of its major characters when it comes to launching new film franchises, but that isn’t going to stop them trying to bring its properties to the screen.
While the studio has, until now, concentrated on big-budget movies for the likes of Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Thor and Captain America (all leading up to the superhero blowout that is The Avengers), CHUD has learned their next planned move is to dig out some of their smaller character and try to bring them to the screen. However, as these heroes don’t have the brand identity of the likes of The Hulk, the comic company is going to rein in the budgets and make these new film in the $20-$40 million range.
Properties like Dr. Strange, Ka-Zar, Luke Cage, Dazzler and Power Pack are apparently among the contender for these leaner, cheaper movies. It certainly makes sense to keep the costs down on films based on these third-tier characters, but the question is whether they can provide the expected superhero punch at that price point?
If done right, these films could be money-spinners. However $20-$40 million is very little for this sort of film, as while Kick-Ass was in that price range, it’s not the sort of film we’d expect from Marvel. Iron Man, for example, is believed to have cost $140 million, with the sequel in the $180-$200 million range, so can they really make worthwhile films for so much less? We’ll have to wait and see.