ECHO's Budget Sets A Surprising Marvel Studios Record; Cinematographer Shares Potential Season 2 Update

ECHO's Budget Sets A Surprising Marvel Studios Record; Cinematographer Shares Potential Season 2 Update

The budget for the five-episode Echo series has been revealed and it's broken an interesting Marvel Studios record as the cheapest MCU TV show to date! We also have comments on a possible second season...

By JoshWilding - Jan 31, 2024 07:01 AM EST
Filed Under: Echo

Echo was released on Disney+ earlier this month and, despite talk of issues behind the scenes (six episodes reportedly became five at some point), the Hawkeye follow-up has broken an interesting record for Marvel Studios. 

According to Forbes, the TV-MA "Marvel Spotlight" series had a production budget of only $40 million. That's less than 20% of Secret Invasion ($212 million) and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law ($212 million), for example, and proof Marvel Studios can make TV shows for less than the cost of a movie!

Based on the currently available information, Echo is by far the cheapest TV series they've ever produced for streaming. Hawkeye somehow cost as much She-Hulk, as did the VFX-heavy WandaVision. The likes of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Moon Knight, and Loki season 2 are all thought to have come in around the $150 million mark.

Visual effects make a big difference and, given the popularity of Netflix's Marvel offerings, we may start to see a greater focus on shows which are more in line with Echo than something like the upcoming Ironheart

Daredevil's first season cost around $50 million. While the recent creative overhaul has likely turned Daredevil: Born Again into a relatively expensive endeavour, if a 13-episode series can still be made for that little, then street-level stories could end up being the best - and most cost-effective - way to explore the MCU on television. 

In other Echo news, cinematographer Kira Kelly recently spoke to The Direct and addressed the possibility of a second season. 

"I'm not sure about that. I feel like the world - You know, anything that we can see Alaqua [Cox] would be amazing," she said. "Whether it's another season for her or whether or not she's in the Daredevil show coming up or any other show. I would just love any excuse to see Alaqua perform again.

Cox has been spotted in New York City, leading to speculation about an appearance in Daredevil: Born Again. That's a logical next step for the character and undoubtedly more likely than Echo season 2 being greenlit in the immediate future (Loki remains the only MCU series to receive a second batch of episodes).

Echo spotlights Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox) as she is pursued by Wilson Fisk's (Vincent D'Onofrio) criminal empire. When the journey brings her home, she must confront her own family and legacy.

The five-episode streaming event also stars Chaske Spencer (Wild IndianThe English), Graham Greene (1883Goliath), Tantoo Cardinal (Killers of the Flower MoonStumptown), Devery Jacobs (FX's Reservation DogsAmerican Gods), Zahn McClarnon (Dark Winds, FX's Reservation Dogs), Cody Lightning (Hey, Viktor!Four Sheets to the Wind) and Vincent D’Onofrio (HawkeyeGodfather of Harlem).

The series is directed by Sydney Freeland (Navajo) and Catriona McKenzie (Gunaikurnai).

All five episodes of Echo are now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.

ECHO Is Disney+'s Second Biggest TV Series In 2024...But It's Still A Long Way From First Place
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ECHO Is Disney+'s Second Biggest TV Series In 2024...But It's Still A Long Way From First Place

ECHO Star Alaqua Cox On Potential Season 2 And Hopes To Face-Off Against Green Goblin
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ECHO Star Alaqua Cox On Potential Season 2 And Hopes To Face-Off Against Green Goblin

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TheLight
TheLight - 1/31/2024, 7:44 AM
"Whether it's another season for her or whether or not she's in the Daredevil show coming up or any other show. I would just love any excuse to see Alaqua perform again."


dagenspear
dagenspear - 1/31/2024, 8:46 AM
@TheLight - Why?
Gabimaru
Gabimaru - 1/31/2024, 9:36 AM
@dagenspear - first - she ain't interesting character to begin with.
second - her fight choreography and abilities sucks.
third - the show is just bad.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 1/31/2024, 10:09 AM
@Gabimaru - Oh man, big disagree on all three points. I enjoyed the shit out of it. But to each his own. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
dagenspear
dagenspear - 1/31/2024, 10:42 AM
@Gabimaru - I think she's fine as a character in idea.

Her fight choreography may change in a different show.

The show had bad stuff to me, but I don't think it's just bad in everything. That doesn't mean she'd be bad in another show.
Origame
Origame - 1/31/2024, 7:49 AM
In other words, it ain't happening. But they don't want to admit to it because of DEI.
EskimoJ
EskimoJ - 1/31/2024, 10:04 AM
@Origame - DEI 'bout to be the new "woke" and CRT Boogeyman.

Sorry, Boogeyperson... got a little misandrist there for a second.
Origame
Origame - 1/31/2024, 10:37 AM
@EskimoJ - dude, it's the corporate word for woke.

You're acting like we made up these terms. It's not us. It's the ideologs.
mastakilla39
mastakilla39 - 1/31/2024, 1:27 PM
@Origame - Agree, dont matter how much you spend if its a shit show and nobody watches.

They are having a hard time admitting DEI works at disney with so many disappointments. DEI takes time to develop and incorporate correctly yet they are spitting out half ass ideas and unfinished scripts to meet a quota rather than trying to make an impact.
Origame
Origame - 1/31/2024, 3:06 PM
@mastakilla39 - exactly. DEI by definition has no benefit to a company and is actually just racial and gender discrimination disguised as social equality. They even use equity instead of equality to trick people. It's never about making race and gender non issues when hiring. It's about hiring solely based on the superficial.

The NBA doesn't abide by this practice, and their teams are pretty loosely representative of different races, but no one talks about that because the "discrimination" is done to white men and for the benefit of black people. And we can tell they're hiring based on talent and skill rather than skin color. But that concept is just lost in Hollywood when most of the people hired have been white EVEN THOUGH WE'RE A MAJORITY WHITE COUNTRY!
marvel72
marvel72 - 1/31/2024, 7:50 AM
Yes but do these budgets bring in enough new subscribers to cover the ones that are leaving.
Origame
Origame - 1/31/2024, 8:46 AM
@marvel72 - that budget is still ridiculous when you consider its almost as much as daredevil season 1 which had more than double the episode count.

To put this into perspective, the average for per episode cost on daredevil was 4.2 mil.

For echo, it was 8 mil.
Shivermetimbers
Shivermetimbers - 1/31/2024, 3:41 PM
@Origame - And Daredevil looked great. It was peak comic television for me.
S8R8M
S8R8M - 1/31/2024, 7:58 AM
Is Echo worth a watch? If you guys recommend it, I may give it a try.
HashTagSwagg
HashTagSwagg - 1/31/2024, 8:15 AM
@S8R8M - If you're starved for more DD, watch that one minute fight scene on youtube. It's ehh but it's something. The show as whole is a complete skip, save your time.
OptimusCrime
OptimusCrime - 1/31/2024, 8:32 AM
@S8R8M - watch the first episode and the last episodes after credits scene.

Then your up to date
Vigor
Vigor - 1/31/2024, 8:38 AM
@S8R8M - I don't know your tastes. But it is grounded until the last 15 minutes of the season. Acting is good. And daredevil shows up. Kingpin is cool too but this acts as a prologue to daredevil season 4. At only 5 episodes, you can put it on while cooking and catch up in a week!
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 1/31/2024, 8:41 AM
@S8R8M - I enjoyed it, as long as you go in knowing the cuts means the new powers aren't explained very well and the last episode isn't as strong as it could have been as a result. Is far more of an exploring the characters kind of a thing, the story thus more a thing to facilitate that than being the main selling point, but all the cast are strong in their respective roles.

Oh, and if tired of the comedic aspects of the MCU, there is non of that realy as in no more levity than you got in the Netflix Marvel shows.
JoeInTheBox
JoeInTheBox - 1/31/2024, 8:55 AM
@S8R8M - Only 5 episodes. Really quick breezy watch. I didn't love it, but the first three episodes are pretty good. The last 2 felt rushed and the finale is pretty messy. Mid-tier MCU for me.
Radders
Radders - 1/31/2024, 9:01 AM
@S8R8M - If the only other thing you have to do is watch paint dry, watch the paint.

Its terrible. Badly acted and choppy. But if you like to watch someone on a motor bike drive down the same road over and over again, its for you
supermanrex
supermanrex - 1/31/2024, 9:47 AM
@S8R8M - the show is good man. it has good action and a nice story. Kingpin is great. Most regular people found it enjoyable. if you go in just wanting to watch some new marvel content then you will have fun. problem with these haters is they have a long standing problem with disney and iger for various stupid reasons.
GeneralZod
GeneralZod - 1/31/2024, 10:00 AM
@supermanrex - "Haters"? I think they're lovers. They love Marvel. They love Star Wars. They love CBMs and comic books. They made Marvel (and DC) what they are today over multiple generations by consuming their products across all media forms. And then, about 5 years ago or so, someone at Disney thought it would be profitable to infuse agenda and post-modern feminism into their products. And now, all of the sudden, Iger is running damage control and Feige is reigning back (and apparently rewriting) content because of the self-vandalization of the Disney empire. So, yeah, these "haters" now hate what Disney and Iger have done for "various stupid reasons."
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 1/31/2024, 10:15 AM
@S8R8M - IMO, it's worth a watch. It's not like anything else that Marvel's done, a very human drama with some great action. Plus it's probably the most relatable depiction of Native American culture I've seen on TV (though I haven't gotten around to Reservation Dogs yet. . .)
marvel72
marvel72 - 1/31/2024, 10:26 AM
@GeneralZod -

Izaizaiza
Izaizaiza - 1/31/2024, 10:47 AM
@S8R8M - I would put it in the top for Disney Plus Marvel shows. To put my taste in context, Wandavision is probably still my favorite, and I really love to miss Marvel for the family dynamic. What if and Loki are my least favorite?
supermanrex
supermanrex - 1/31/2024, 11:50 AM
@GeneralZod - please tell me what agenda they are pushing? what are they forcing on us that is harmful. please enlighten me!!!
marvel72
marvel72 - 1/31/2024, 12:56 PM
@S8R8M - I watched all of episode 1 and half of episode 2 then decided to stop watching it and put Netflix Daredevil Season 1 on.
GeneralZod
GeneralZod - 1/31/2024, 1:07 PM
@supermanrex -



@marvel72
GeneralZod
GeneralZod - 1/31/2024, 1:59 PM
@marvel72 - That's what happens with all of these Marvel D+ TV shows. You labor through the first episode, try to get through episode 2, and it's just a slog. There are no cliff-hangers, no intriguing subplots, no interesting characters. Compare to the last few seasons of MAOS, which was the opposite on all counts.
Pathogen
Pathogen - 1/31/2024, 7:23 PM
@S8R8M - Its kinda boring, weirdly cut, eh...I dunno. I'm gonna try and muddle through it to see if Daredevil comes back on the scene
CAPTAINPINKEYE
CAPTAINPINKEYE - 1/31/2024, 8:23 AM
It was five episodes? We are calling that a season now?
supermanrex
supermanrex - 1/31/2024, 9:52 AM
@CAPTAINPINKEYE - a season should not be an episode count but a complete story. so if the story is completed in five episodes then yes. if it takes 18 to tell a complete story then yes like born again will be. if you get stuck on numbers as a studio then you are either cutting to much from the story to force fit into a shorter run of episodes or if you are on the longer end of obligation you are filling with unnecessary filler episodes. write the story then split it into whatever natural number of episodes it takes to tell it. that should be episodic entertainment from now on. i will say if you go under 4 episodes then you probably should just make one movie then.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 1/31/2024, 10:17 AM
@CAPTAINPINKEYE - Loki, Hawkeye, Ms Marvel, and Moon Knight were all 6 eps. Why would you draw the line at 5?
CAPTAINPINKEYE
CAPTAINPINKEYE - 1/31/2024, 11:54 AM
@ClintThaHamster - for you to make that comment you would have to look up old articles about said mentioned titles and check to see if I made said similar comment or not. Would it make you feel better if I made similar complaint about those titles too? Or just say that those titles were either shit or forgettable?
CAPTAINPINKEYE
CAPTAINPINKEYE - 1/31/2024, 11:58 AM
@supermanrex - so for you a season is more than 3. 3 or under should be a movie. Gotcha.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 1/31/2024, 12:08 PM
@CAPTAINPINKEYE - You said "we're calling 5 episodes a season NOW," which lead me to believe that this was a new concern. If you made that complaint about six episodes, too, then I'd probably point out that in the UK, six episodes is the standard per series, but that other places, like France, seasons of television series can run for HUNDREDS of episodes.

And then I'd ask you: What do you propose we call these discrete units of storytelling, if not seasons? Mini-series or limited series are usually "one and done," and feature films famously aren't typically split up into multiple units and serialized.
CAPTAINPINKEYE
CAPTAINPINKEYE - 1/31/2024, 12:41 PM
@ClintThaHamster - lol

It’s fine. Enjoy the show. I’ve already spent too much time on this. Take care.
supermanrex
supermanrex - 1/31/2024, 2:49 PM
@CAPTAINPINKEYE - 3 or under is about the upper limit for movies in theaters these days. you go beyond 3.5 hours people and critics really start bitching. i guess you can split four hours or four episodes into two whole movies ala infinity war and endgame.
McMurdo
McMurdo - 1/31/2024, 8:25 AM
Bury it
Vigor
Vigor - 1/31/2024, 8:36 AM
Her costume gives her a healers aura. Cool I guess. Not enough healers in the MCU (counting Mantis and the chick from eternals who died)

But Echo was a lot cooler as an agent of Kingpin. Wearing leather and reading people's moves (like her comic counterpart). It gives her a certain grit. Since daredevil has different showrunners, they should "Russo brothers" Echo and change her back to something cooler. Russos had a great way of bringing out the best version of every character
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