Why do movies cost so much to make?
I get that actors are expensive, but how does it ever get to insane numbers like 350 million (for endgame) and 200 million (for titanic).
Am I missing some insane cost? And why do some of the best movies ever suddenly cost a lot less?
Notice how long the credits are in any major motion picture. That's a lot of names — hundreds of people are involved in making a big movie. All of those people are doing this as their job, and have to be paid. Some of them are paid quite highly.
If a movie is based on a book, comic, TV show, video game, etc. then there's also licensing for the story rights; which can be millions right there. On top of that, movie-making equipment is expensive (and typically rented); modern CGI special effects take a lot of computer power, which costs money too; major movies also have big advertising budgets.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_budgeting
Look at the average scene in an MCU movie and see that 90% of it is usually CGI. Extrapolate all those effects across a 120 minute film and add in the price of the top name actors they usually have, and I'm surprised it's only 350 million.
Isn't like 50% of the scenes in endgame just people talking / planning?
Sure. Where are they talking? Is it in a fanciful location or anywhere with a window? Itf so, it's probably CGI.
Damn... is it really worth it to fake windows?
Sets are mostly greenscreen for these movies like this one:
Surprisingly, yes. Filming on location and all the logistics that go along with that can balloon the cost real fast, especially for multiple locations. (Site fees, travel, talent costs, additional security, a separate crew unit, etc) CGI allows you to create different locations through green screen, which majorly cuts down on a lot of the scheduling/logistics. Sometimes green screen will be just a window, other times it will be literally the entire set.
They're starting to use sets where, instead of having greenscreen, the walls are giant LED screens where they display the background. This way the director has complete control of what is going on in the scene in the moment. (also, with greenscreen you can get a weird green reflection on the actors that needs to be corrected for).
If sure there's a pros and cons list for green screen vs LED wall, but honestly I think it's just so amazing that LED tech has come as far as it has so quickly!