‘Loki’ Second Season Cost Marvel More Than $170 Million

The cost of making the second season of Marvel’s acclaimed streaming series Loki rose by $9.7 million last year to a total of $176.8 million which was “in line with the agreed budget” according to filings released today.

The Disney+ show debuted in October 2023 and stars Tom Hiddleston as the eponymous god of mischief. Owen Wilson and Oscar-winning Indiana Jones actor Ke Huy Quan team up with him to stop a time-travelling conqueror called Kang. He is in charge of an army of different versions of himself who are all played by Jonathan Majors. It was his last role for Marvel before its owner Disney dropped him when he was found guilty of assaulting his ex-girlfriend.

This didn’t stop the second season of Loki from casting a spell on audiences. They awarded it 83% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes with critics rating it just one percentage point less than that. It didn’t come cheap.

The budgets of streaming shows are usually a closely-guarded secret as studios tend to combine their spending on them in their overall expenses and don’t break out the cost of each one. However, shows which are filmed in the United Kingdom are exceptions and that includes the second season of Loki.

It was shot at the historic Pinewood Studios outside London and on location across the U.K. Studios filming in the U.K. benefit from its Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit (AVEC) which gives them a cash reimbursement, in the form of a tax credit, of up to 25.5% of the money they spend in the country.

To qualify for the reimbursement, at least 10% of the core production costs need to relate to activities in the U.K. In order to demonstrate this to the authorities, studios set up a separate production company in the U.K. for each show they make there. Each one has to file financial statements and they shine a spotlight on the secretive cost of making streaming shows. That’s because the filings show everything from the headcount and salaries to the total costs and the level of the reimbursement.

The companies usually have code names so that they don’t raise attention with fans when filing for permits to film on location. Season two of Loki was made by Disney’s subsidiary Limbo Productions I UK which is a nod to the title character traveling outside his actual era.

As with all U.K. companies, its financial statements are filed in stages long after the period they relate to. This starts during pre-production and continues after the premiere to give the company time to ensure it has collected all of its bills and received the money for them. It means that the costs of a production can still rise years after release though not usually by anywhere near as much as when it is being made.

This explains why the latest financial statements for Limbo Productions I cover the 12 months to October 31, 2024 and even though this was a year after the show launched, its costs still rose by 5.2% to $176.8 million (£150 million). It comes to $35.4 million per hour – far more than the $1.3 million (£1 million) minimum hourly spend required in order to claim the reimbursement.

Disney banked a total reimbursement of $35.5 million (£30.1 million) for the show bringing its net spending to $141.3 million. One of the biggest expenses was the $15.3 million (£13.1 million) in staff costs. The crew peaked at a monthly average of 183 employees which doesn’t even include freelancers, contractors and temporary workers. They aren’t listed as employees on the books of U.K. companies but often represent the majority of the crew on a film shoot.

Last year Disney announced that since since 2019 it has spent $4.8 billion (£3.6 billion) on production in the U.K. supporting more than 32,000 jobs. It added that it plans to invest $5 billion (£3.7 billion) over the next five years in films, television and streaming shows made in the U.K. and Europe. It remains to be seen whether this will stay on track.

In May President Trump rocked Hollywood with the announcement that a 100% tariff will be applied to movies entering the United States that are produced in “foreign lands”. It was an attempt to bring film making back to the U.S. and although it has yet to be implemented, it hasn’t been forgotten.

Last month Trump wrote on social media that “in order to solve this long time, never ending problem, I will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any and all movies that are made outside of the United States.” If he doesn’t follow through with this threat, he may have to roll out the red carpet by offering Hollywood studios even more blockbuster incentives than they get in the U.K. in order to tempt them back home.