Loki Season 2's massively expensive budget was seemingly revealed ahead of its Disney+ release this October.
After a successful run back in the summer of 2021, Tom Hiddleston's God of Mischief is back for more streaming fun, as he - along with a band of colorful supporting characters - deals with the complicated matters of time within the MCU.
The latest trailer for the mind-bending series revealed looks at some stunning, sci-fi action, more Variants of Jonathan Majors' Kang, and even a Kaiju-sized Miss Minutes to boot.
Loki Season 2 arrives amid streaming turmoil at Disney, as after years of rampant spending, the company aims to hold its wallet a little closer in an effort to reduce costs.
Loki Season 2's Massive Cost
Loki Season 2 reportedly comes sporting a hefty price tag for Disney, according to a new report from Forbes.
It was revealed the upcoming Disney+ series cost a total of $141.3 million across its six episodes, equating to roughly $23.5 million per episode for the Tom Hiddleston-starring series.
Marvel Studios' latest streaming effort, Secret Invasion, carried with it a whopping $212 million budget; however, this was likely due to the show's extensive four-month-long reshoot schedule.
It was reported back in 2019 - alongside the launch of Disney+ - that these super-powered streaming series (at the time WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Hawkeye) would have budgets as high as $25 million per episode. But given Disney's recent cost-cutting efforts, that number has seemingly come down.
Lucasfilm's Andor still tops the Disney+ production budget charts, costing Disney an estimated $250 million for its twelve-episode first season ($20.8 million per episode).
To compare Disney's streaming Star Wars efforts to its MCU series, Loki Season 2 seems to come in close to the Obi-Wan Kenobi mark, which reportedly cost $150 million at $25 million an episode.
This is much more than the reported budget of the first two Mandalorian seasons on the streamer, as well as its spin-off The Book of Boba Fett. The Mandalorian Season 1 was confirmed to cost "around $100 million," breaking down to $12.5 million an episode.
While the exact budgets of The Mandalorian Season 2 and Boba Fett have not been revealed, they are believed to have cost right around $12.5 million/episode.
The State of Disney's Streaming Budgets
Much has been made about streaming budgets for Disney shows coming down, this includes both Marvel and Star Wars projects. However, the results of that have yet to be seen (or at least seen in a significant way).
Secret Invasion still costs more than some big-screen blockbusters, and Loki Season 2 is bolstering a budget very similar to those MCU shows of Disney's past regime.
And even projects like the upcoming Skeleton Crew and Acolyte Star Wars shows are coming with these massive price tags.
The Acolyte alone has reportedly already spent $49.2 million in just pre-production costs. That is more than the studio spent on its theatrically released Rogue One: A Star Wars Story for the same period in that project's development.
So when is the change coming exactly?
What fans are likely to see if now that some of these previously announced (and well into production/development) Disney+ projects start to make their way out, then the dip in production spending will start to happen.
Marvel shows like Agatha: Coven of Chaos, Ironheart, and Daredevil: Born Again, could see the effect of these budgetary changes from Bob Iger. But even those may have been too far along for these cost-reduction measures to impact them.
Loki Season 2 is due out on Disney+ on October 6.
