Disney’s reported Avengers Doomsday budget is already causing discussion across Hollywood, and not in a good way.
According to comments made by John Campea, the next major Marvel team-up film could carry a staggering price tag—one that may put unprecedented pressure on Marvel Studios and its parent company The Walt Disney Company to deliver a historic box office performance.
You can hear Campea’s comments in the player below:
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Campea stated: “The word is that Doomsday’s budget is around $400 million which makes it one of if not the most expensive film ever made. I heard a little birdie told me… their marketing budget for Doomsday is just a little north of $300 million… Doomsday will be the first film in history that will need to join the billion dollar club in order to break even.”
If those numbers hold true, the implications are enormous.
A $700 Million Bet Before Opening Weekend
A $400 million production budget paired with a reported $300 million marketing campaign would bring the total investment for Avengers Doomsday to roughly $700 million before a single ticket is sold.
That’s not just expensive—it’s historic.
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 27: (L-R) Joe Russo, Robert Downey Jr. and Anthony Russo speak onstage during the Marvel Studios Panel in Hall H at SDCC in San Diego, California on July 27, 2024. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)
For comparison, Avengers: Endgame and Avengers: Infinity War were already considered massive financial undertakings. Yet those films arrived at the peak of Marvel’s cultural dominance, backed by a decade of momentum and widespread audience goodwill.
That context matters—because Marvel is not operating from that same position today.
The Billion-Dollar Problem
Traditionally, studios aim to double a film’s production budget at the global box office to turn a profit, accounting for marketing costs, theater splits, and additional expenses.
If Avengers Doomsday truly sits at $700 million all-in, that means turning a meaningful profit may demand $1.3–$1.5 billion or more.
Cyclops releasing his optic blast in the Avengers: Doomsday trailer – Marvel Entertainment, YouTube
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That’s rare air for modern Marvel.
Only a handful of films in history have crossed those thresholds, and most of them were cultural events with massive built-in anticipation.
Where’s the Hype?
That’s where the biggest concern comes in.
Unlike the lead-up to Infinity War and Endgame, the current level of excitement surrounding Avengers Doomsday appears… muted.
Secret code from the Steve Rogers Avengers: Doomsday trailer – Marvel Entertainment, YouTube
Those earlier films benefited from:
- A clearly defined overarching story
- Fan-favorite characters reaching emotional conclusions
- A sense that audiences were witnessing something historic
Right now, Marvel’s cinematic universe feels far more fragmented—and audiences have clearly noticed. In the years since Endgame, the studio has shifted focus toward a new generation of heroes, often sidelining the characters that built the brand in favor of newer, less established and more diverse replacements. That transition hasn’t landed the way Marvel likely hoped.
That trend raises a serious concern, as many believe even a major Avengers title is no longer automatically guaranteed to be a must-see event.
Marvel’s Box Office Track Record Has Changed
There’s no ignoring it—the MCU isn’t the box office machine it once was.
While certain legacy characters and crossover events can still generate strong numbers, recent entries have shown wider gaps between critical and audience reception, faster drop-offs after opening weekends, and far less urgency for repeat viewings.
Magneto in the Avengers: Doomsday trailer – Marvel Entertainment, YouTube
Several recent entries have struggled to generate the kind of enthusiasm that once defined the MCU, with several high profile box office flops like The Marvels, Captain America: Brave New World, Eternals, and more.
In fact, since Endgame, the only films to cross the billion-dollar mark have been Spider-Man: No Way Home and Deadpool & Wolverine—both heavily tied to legacy characters from other studios that fans were already invested in.
That’s a far cry from the era when Marvel films were practically guaranteed billion-dollar performers.
And that’s what makes this situation so risky.
High Risk, High Stakes for Disney
If these budget figures are even close to accurate, Avengers Doomsday is a major high-stakes gamble for Disney Marvel.
A massive success could:
- Reestablish Marvel as the dominant force in blockbuster filmmaking
- Restore confidence in the long-term direction of the MCU
- Justify continued large-scale investments
But a miss—or even a modest success—could be far more damaging.
Steve Rogers in the Avengers: Doomsday trailer – Marvel Entertainment, YouTube
A film that falls short of expectations at this scale often reshapes how studios approach future projects.
Can Lightning Strike Again?
The big question hanging over all of this is simple: Can Marvel recreate the magic of Infinity War and Endgame?
Right now, the conditions look very different. The audience landscape has shifted, expectations have changed, and the MCU no longer feels like the unstoppable force it once was.
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – APRIL 11: Kevin Feige, President, Marvel Studios speaks onstage during the Walt Disney Studios presentation at Cinemacon in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 11, 2024. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)
That doesn’t mean it can’t succeed. But if the reported Avengers Doomsday budget is accurate, success isn’t enough.
It has to be a phenomenon.
And that’s a much harder target to hit in today’s box office climate.
Are you surprised at this reported Avengers Doomsday budget? Sound off in the comments and let us know!
And you just no they went way over that 400M budget. As Valliant Renegade pointed out on X last night, the actual production spend for Infinity War/Endgame was a combined 1.2B per Disney’s own reporting documents. Does anyone really see this film topping 1.5B or even making it to 2B?
If it doesn’t suck and frankly, at this point, that’s a big IF, maybe word of mouth will carry it that far. But no one is actually talking about this film. They are talking about the astronomical budget, the massive cast, and the reported production issues, but I don’t hear anyone saying, “Man, I CAN’T wait to see the new Avengers Film!”
This could be a bigger flop for Disney than Indy 5.
Reshoots are far more complicated, and therefore, expensive, than filming first time around. That’s crucial, because this movie has been reshot about 3 times. Heaven knows what the REAL budget is, they don’t want us to know.
And, internationally, China and similar countries keep 80+%, so BO must overcome that.
Wouldn’t surprise me if this movie must make almost $2Bn to break even.
Let’s say it’s a loss-leader, to raise the zombie brand from the dead. Even that’s problematic, because the actors are all already TOO OLD. (See my next comment on why this will flop hard).
Why this movie will flop.
1) Actors have said they are shooting afore green screens. They have no idea who they are fighting, even.
Given how poor the modern DEI effects artists are, this will translate into unconvincing fight scenes, et cetera. Expect zero chemistry between actors, who oftentimes are filmed apart and composited later. Hence, bad word-of-mouth.
2) The Access Media hypes every Disney movie, and the audience have learned to be cynical about the Shill Media, the Shill professional Critics. So, marketing via journalists is a waste of money.
3) The meteoric rise of Nerdrotic, Drinker, etc on YT mean that their opinions carry more ever more weight. They are vanquishing the fake-hype by the Shill Media.
4) Activist Actors. The Avengers made a Kamala ad. Never forget. “Hi Avengers!”. This has pissed off over 50% of Americans, and many of us abroad, to boot.
5) Activist Actors 2. Ped(r)o Pascal. He’s in it. Mark Ruffalo is in it too, etc. Many men are boycotting anything with those gay woke DEI rainbow-stick-licking actors. Remember hypocrite Pascal pays to eat in Zionist restaurants with his new Zionist boyfriend. That has pissed off the Palestine flag shaggers, so PP has pissed off the Woke-Left as well as the Right.
6) Everyone is fed up with those “Stars”. Look at the failure of the movies: flop after flop, notably, F4. Mandelboring and GooGoo will further dent morale when it flops.
7) The failure of Marvel Movies recently. Doomsday depends on lore, and characters, of movies no one has seen, nor wants to see. The talk of Nostalgia bait saving the day is, I reckon, over-stated, over-optimistic. And, you can get that by waiting for torrents, anyway, why watch on the big screen for a nostalgia fix?
8) Talking of big screens, cinemas are filled with obnoxious immigrants.
9) Cinemas are seriously expensive, now: tickets snacks and drinks are no longer impulse buys. People are broke.
10) Cinemas are closing. Many people have to drive far longer to their nearest cinema, and fuel prices are always on the up.
11) iMax won’t be showing Doomsday, for whatever that is worth.
12) Fatigue.
13) Anger: We are angry at Disney.
14) Mums won’t let their kids watch Disney movies, because they are gay propaganda, and Mums don’t want their kids to be gay, they want grandkids.
15) Fathers remember when movies were not gay, and also will be reluctant to fork out to see any Disney movie with their family.
16) Guys like me, who boycott wokery, no matter what.
17) The “Modern Audience” is broke, and never shows up.
18) Overexposure. Like F4, everyone will be fed up with hearing about this movie, and will think, meh, I’ll torrent it… Maybe. Every time I see that image of dirty old man who told us to vote for Kamala, now telling us to “Shush”, I want to vomit.
19) Simple super-hero fatigue
20) Girl-bosses. This movie will have several girl-bosses, who will push men around.
21) This movie will be DEI, and will push political agendas.
22) This movie has only Try-Hard energy. Like Supergirl, another flop in waiting.
23) Embarrassment factor. Who wants to pay to see a feminist movie that’s a guaranteed failure, a guaranteed flop? Marvel is no longer cool, it’s quite the opposite. To the kids, it’s old, not fresh.
And, those are just off the top of my head.
Fantastic list!
Wow, yes to all of the above. Add in: Unnecessary race swaps, though I suppose that fits in with point 21. It really chaps my ass they race swapped Wonder Man.
The real life participants and their stories disgust me, and the MCU now disgusts me. I can only hope people actually back up their convictions with action and skip paying to see this movie.
Even if we can set aside the personnel issues, there’s no strong lead-up to Doomsday; it doesn’t have the same connective tissue as we had for the Infinity Saga. The Infinity Saga was close to two dozen OK to awesome movies.
The Multiverse saga has 14 bad to worse movies, many of which Marvel has already tried to memory hole, add in almost 24 seasons of D+ “meh” to “I can’t believe they wasted their money on that” TV. With only a couple easily connected to Doomsday.
If they are hoping to pass the torch or revive the MCU, they’d better ignore 90% of Phase 4, 5, and 6. If not retcon Phase 4, 5, and 6 entirely. That well is poisoned.
I predict that it is going to be a massive flop.