Marvel has just recently announced that Robert Downey Jr. (RDJ) and the Russo brothers are returning to the MCU. However, sources have said that not only are they all getting enormous paydays, but RDJ is also responsible for Anthony and Joe Russo’s return to Marvel.
According to Variety, the return of the Russo brothers to direct the next two Marvel Avengers films was a condition of RDJ.
“Sources say Downey, who is repped by WME, agreed to return to the MCU if the Russos, who are CAA clients, would be directing. “They were the only ones he would work with,” says a source familiar with the dealmaking.”
How much did it cost Disney to bring them all back?
The Russo brothers are reportedly getting $80 million dollars to direct the upcoming “Avengers: Doomsday” and “Avengers: Secret Wars” films.
With this $80 million dollar payday, the brothers will get “performance escalators” at $750 million and $1 billion box office marks for each film. They also will produce two films with their own AGBO production company.
Robert Downey Jr. is said to make even more money, getting “significantly more” to play Doctor Doom in the two films.
Disney needs these films to be hits. They are banking heavily on the upcoming Avengers films, hoping for the almost $5 billion box office Marvel saw with “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame.”
They are paying out millions of dollars to bring in people they feel could help them right what went wrong with Phase 4 into Phase 5.
Saving money elsewhere to offset costs.
The upcoming films will be shot in London instead of Georgia to offset their expenses even more. Disney has been sending a lot of their films to the UK to take advantage of the huge rebates they give the studios in exchange for filming there. For example, “The Marvels” got a subsidy of $55 million under the “Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit,” which can give back up to 25.5% of the money spent in the country.
Disney is spending big money just trying to steer their Marvel ship away from the iceberg made by their decisions. Let’s see if it works.
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