Stranger Things season 4 budget

The fourth season of Stranger Things is almost here! But as exciting as that is, the show has pulled a lot of focus recently for its budget. According to a source at The Wall Street Journal — which is about as reputable as a news source gets — Netflix spent around $30 million for every episode of the new season. At nine episodes, that’s $270 million for season 4.

That’s a pretty insane amount of money more or less unheard of outside the biggest, most star-studded action extravaganza movies. That’s double what HBO was spending per episode on Game of Thrones in its final two seasons, when the show was at the height of its popularity.

What accounts for it? We don’t know, but I’d love to see Netflix’s balance sheet. Stranger Things is a complicated show with a lot of visual effects, but even so, $30 million per episode seems expensive; at least the characters can wear more or less modern clothes and film in real, existing locations. The producers don’t have to create Westeros here.

Stranger Things budget

I think it likely that a good chunk of that $30 million is going towards salaries. That’s what drives up the price of Marvel TV shows, which run around $20-$25 million per episode. Stars like Winona Ryder don’t come cheap.

TV budgets are only going to grow in the years to come. Amazon is spending nearly $500 million on the first season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, and that thing only has eight episodes. Might this bubble eventually burst? Maybe, but until we’re gonna get some good-looking TV shows.

The first half of Stranger Things season 4 premieres on May 27. The rest of the episodes drop on July 1.

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