8 Insane Ways Movies Tried To Save Money
Want to cut costs? Just re-use some footage, nobody will notice.
With studios like Disney spending hundreds of millions of dollars on movies like Avengers: Endgame, there's a general impression that Hollywood likes to spend excessively without a care in the world, and without keeping costs in check.
And while there might be a bit of truth to that for movies that are basically guaranteed hits (like Endgame, which made over $1 billion in mere days), most of the time, the opposite is true. Film budgets - both production and marketing - are planned meticulously, ensuring that each project has just the amount of money that it needs.
Sometimes, movies are even forced to save money, whether that's by making significant changes to the script right before filming begins, trimming production expenses like housing and accommodation, or even re-using footage from older films.
Granted, these extreme measures are rare, due to the fact that having a handle on finances is one of the first boxes a movie will tick. But they do happen, and some of these cost-cutting tactics are proof that Hollywood will do whatever it takes to save a buck or two where possible.
8. Deadpool Merged Three Different Characters Into One
Considering the huge financial and critical success of both Deadpool films, it's quite hard to imagine a time when many people had doubts about that original 2016 movie. Nobody really knew just how big this franchise could be, and no-one was more skeptical than 20th Century Fox - the studio that was putting its money on the line.
Unconvinced that Deadpool would be able to turn a substantial profit, Fox executives ordered the film's creative team to cut around $7-8 million from the budget, literally days before the project was set to be given a green light.
This was obviously no easy task, especially when you consider that writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick had been perfecting the script for several years at this point, and to hit such a major roadblock this late in the game must have absolutely battered their morale. Still, knowing that trimming costs was the only way the film would get made, they had some tough calls to make.
In the end, the writers decided to make several enormous changes to their story, including condensing the characters of Garrison Kane, Sluggo, and Wire down into just one: Angel Dust, played by Gina Carano in the final product. They also removed a third-act gunfight completely, inserting the "Deadpool forgets his guns" joke in its place.