In the 2010s, the combined forces of Game of Thrones on TV and the Marvel Cinematic Universe at the movies combined to push up the budgets of productions to thentofore unheard-of levels. Nowadays, we hear about movies like The Marvels costing nearly $300 million, or series like The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power being the most expensive TV show ever made. It's enough to make you wonder how studios get away with it.
In some cases, it ends up that the margins are quite slim. Take the case of Star Wars: Andor, which follows budding resistance fighter Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) as he dedicates his life to resisting the tyrannical Empire. The first season aired in 2022 and the second and final season will come out, next year. According to some digging by Forbes, those two seasons cost nearly $645 million to produce between the two of them. As of right now, the show has made Disney a profit of $107 million, and that's only when you factor in production reimbursements the studio gets for filming in the U.K. Without those, as of right now, it looks like the show would have lost money.
And this financial statement, which was filed in the U.K. by production company E&E Industries in accordance with the country's stringent disclosure requirements (it's easier to hide the price of production in the USA), doesn't include marketing costs, which can balloon the budget of a show or movie significantly. But on the other hand, the second season of the show hasn't yet come out, and Disney is surely hoping that will generate some more revenue. Still, in total, the profit margins are slimmer than you might expect on a show this big.
And there are other series where I'm betting Disney took a loss. According to a different Forbes report, over $224 million was spent on the Marvel series Secret Invasion, which ran in 2023. There were only six episodes of that show, and I don't remember any of them looking especially expensive; in fact, the show was dinged for looking cheesy. It makes you wonder: where is all the money going?
Well, in the case of Andor, we have an itemized list: around $72 million went to wagers and salaries, $9 million to social security and pension costs, $137,000 to administrative expenses, and $563 million to production costs. If we want these shows to look and sound spectacular, if we want them to feel epic, if we want amazing sets, costumes and special effects, that's going to cost money.
And if all that results in a show as good as Andor, I'm inclined to call it money well spent. The problem comes when studios like Disney spent similar amounts of money on shows and movies that aren't as well-conceived. For every Andor, there's an Acolyte, another Star Wars series that largely underwhelmed fans. That show was cancelled after one season, and after learning about how expensive some of these series are to make, perhaps that will come as less of a surprise.
Andor will survive to the end of its life, but it will only last two seasons. The second season premieres on Disney+ on April 22, 2025.
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