Wolverine 3's Budget Revealed (It's Bigger Than Last Time)

With X-Men: Apocalypse now mostly out of the way, attention will inevitably turn to the forthcoming third Wolverine movie, which still doesn't have a real title, despite all of the attempts to suggest it's going to be Old Man Logan.

After the revelation that The Reavers might be playing a part, and that Wolverine will sport a full beard and trucker cap (thanks to High Jackman's Instagram), the latest news to hit the net concerns the budget.

According to an application filed by the studio to film in Louisiana, the budget is going to be $127m, putting it just above The Wolverine's budget level ($120m) but still some way below the astronomical $150m spent on X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Obviously, a good deal of that was probably spent on the effects work needed to make Ryan Reynolds look a fool and Will.i.am able to teleport, and it's unlikely this sequel will need anything quite as magical.

Assumed logic suggests the marketing costs will balloon that figure to $190m ish (though judging by the aggressive publicity campaign Fox ran for Apocalypse, it may even be more). Meaning Fox will be looking at something like $400m to break even with cinema cuts taken into account.

As an indication, The Wolverine took $414m, Origins only $373.1m and even X-Men: First Class $354m. It's a pretty big ask for any Fox/X-Men movie to achieve what Days Of Future Past did and take more than $700m, but Wolverine does have a strong marketing pull on his own, and the whispers of Old Man Logan may help push it beyond those sorts of levels.

There's also the small matter of this being Hugh Jackman's last outing as the character, and the vague suggestion that that might mean he's killed off (he won't be, but it's always going to be an assumption for some). That too might help.

Do you think Wolverine 3 will make its money? Share your reactions below in the comments thread.