For a long time now, Hollywood’s dependence on major franchises with irresponsible budgets has hurt in the long term. This is a big problem that seems to have affected studios at all levels. Disney spent $ 300 million on “Indiana Jones and Dantry’s dial of Destiny”, which ended up with a disappointing box-office to say the least. The “Fast X” of 2023, on the other hand, would have cost $ 340 million before marketing, almost guarantee that the film would never make money (which it has certainly did not do it, because it has done about $ 705 million worldwide). Then there is Marvel Studios, who spent flagrant amounts on his films, even in the face of the drop in box office receipts.
Although there were signs of problems before the end of phase three of Marvel Studios, which resulted in “Avengers: Endgame” in 2019, things really took a turn after the “end of the game”, with Marvel Cinematic Universe Films making its debut to reduce global box office revenues, which only highlighted the swollen budgets. Take, “Eternals” of 2021, which seemed to mark a little a turning point for the franchise – and not for the best.
“Eternals” was an extremely ambitious but uneven cosmic epic which became the first MCU film to obtain a rotten “score” on Rotten Tomatoes. In addition, the film led by Chloé Zhao made $ 402 million at the world box office, which was not a complete disaster but was far from the brand of a billion dollars, many other great MCU films touched. It would have been enough to break, but the film was considerably exaggerated, which cost $ 272.6 million to produce. When you consider that the studios receive about half of the box office feedback, then take into account marketing costs, the film has definitively lost money for Disney and Marvel, which, like many other studios in the modern era, spends exorbitant sums on its films for some time. Things have only worsened from there, and yet Marvel Studios has apparently not yet learned his lesson in these giant budgets. What costs so much money? It seems that the star of “Eternals” Kumail Nanjiani has some ideas.
Kumail Nanjiani became a star with Eternals and felt like a
Among many questions that afflict Marvel studios, this is why devil they continue to spend so much money when MCU films simply do not realize the benefits they were in the past? In 2023, Marvel released her film MCU the cheapest of all time with “The Marvels”, which won only $ 197 million at the box office but cost around $ 220 million to do. Things have not improved much since then, except out -of -competition successes such as “Deadpool & Wolverine”. In 2025, the safe but forgettable “Captain America: Brave New World” had an initial budget similar to “Eternals” at 180 million dollars – although it probably increased thanks to drastic reshuffles – and in the same way as “Eternals”, the film made $ 415 million worldwide. Likewise, the second MCU output of 2025, “Thunderbolts”, has only made $ 382 million at the world box office. Its budget? $ 180 million. What’s going on here? Well, in the case of “Brave New World”, the reminders pushed the budget always upwards, but if not, Kumail Nanjiani has some ideas.
Nanjiani was best known for his comedy Standing, but acquired an important notoriety (and an Oscar appointment) for having played and co-writing “The Big Sick” in 2017. This, coupled with his brilliant performance as Dinesh in the “Silicon Valley” of HBO, he helped Nanjiani to climb to a higher level of Stardom.
Nanjiani played Kingo in “Eternals”, for which he completely changed his body to obtain the classic superhero physique. A Bollywood Wisecracking star who also happens to be a former immortal extraterrestrial, Kingo was one of the best characters in the film, and it seems that Nanjiani had an absolute bullet playing the character – not only because he realized certain childhood dreams, but because Marvel made him feel like a king while turning. In the opinion of the actor, this last point could have had something to do with the reasons why these films cost so much money.
Kumail Nanjiani was treated as a king on Eternal – but at what price?
In 2025, Kumail Nanjiani appeared on the “We could be drunk” podcast and revealed a lot about his experience in making “Eternals”, noting how he was almost pampered from the first day. “This is what is great about this-the budget is crazy,” he said. “You are really on luxury. They give you a driver [who takes] You are where you want, when you wish – weekend, day off, anything. “”
Nanjiani also pointed out that Marvel had provided him with a “beautiful apartment” to live him during the shooting, alongside catering options which were, according to the actor, “Amazing”. Apparently, there was also a dedicated staff member who provided the actors with meals that met their exact macro and calories requirements. “They give you five meals a day,” he said. “Everyone’s meals are different quantities and different […] They will adjust it and repair it for you, or, like the weekend “I want to go out and have Indian food”. “Perhaps without surprise, Nanjiani summed up his comments by noting how many of these things seemed:
“Do you realize on films of films how much money is wasted, and you hear, as” this film was cheap, it was 10 million dollars “and you say to yourself” $ 10 million? So much money! How does it take so much money to do something that looks like S ***? “So much money is wasted.”
How much the casting really contributes to the budgets of MCU films remains uncertain, but the general point on waste surely has something. Although the costs of accommodation and the lifestyle are necessary, whatever the film, Marvel needs all the help it can get to maintain low budgets while the MCU has trouble regaining the type of domination at the box office that it appreciated for its first decade.
