Budgets are out of control. Disney spent $762 mil on The Marvels and Antman

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As we regularly report, studios filming in the UK often incorporate a subsidiary company to make each picture there and they have to file financial statements showing everything from the total sum spent on it right down to the pension contribution paid to the staff who worked on it. Some even disclose the difference in pay between the men and women they employ and the proportion of the workforce represented by each gender.

The companies usually have code names so that they don't raise attention with fans when filing for permits to film on location and when they are correctly matched to the productions they are making it lifts the curtain on their costs.

This is because the terms governing the UK production companies state that they have to show all of the costs, from pre-production right up to delivery of the finished film. What's more, the terms add that movies made in the UK can only have one production company so studios can't set up others elsewhere and hide some of the spending in them. Crucially, the companies have to warrant that the data in their filings is true and accurate so the cost of the movies they make is indisputable. Studios don't disclose this information out of the goodness of their hearts.

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They shoot in the UK to benefit from the government's Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit (AVEC) which gives them a cash reimbursement of up to 25.5% of the money they spend in the country.

To qualify for the reimbursement, at least 10% of the production costs need to relate to activities in the UK. Studios set up separate production companies for each picture so that they can demonstrate the spending to the UK government and the filings for the Disney subsidiaries behind The Marvels and Quantumania show that they cost a total of $762.4 million to make.

The movies generated a combined $682.2 million at the box office with around 50% of it going to Disney leaving the studio with a loss of $421.3 million. That doesn't include the revenue from merchandise and Blu Ray/streaming sales as they go to the studio but it too has to cover the cost of marketing the movies which could drive up its loss. However, that's just the start of the story.

The filings also show that The Marvels and Quantumania received a combined $124.9 million in reimbursements from the UK government bringing Disney's loss down to around 300 million dollars. Getting the reimbursement is far from child's play.

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