There were rumors early on that the budget for the two-part Avengers: Infinity War would reach $1 billion, but most disregarded the reports as fake. But it seems that it may be confirmed that the newest, and most likely final Avengers films will indeed spend over $1 billion dollars on production.

At a luncheon hosted on February 28th by the African American Film Critics Association, Dan Cathy, co-owner of Pinewood Studios, made this statement:

We now have on the lot down there now the largest film production ever with a $1 billion budget.

What he was no doubt referring to was the Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Georgia, USA, where Avengers: Infinity War is currently being filmed. And what this really means is that $500 million will go to each part/movie (still making the most expensive movies ever). According to rumors, $400 million would go to actors’ salaries, with Robert Downey Jr. taking half of that. If this is true, this would still leave $600 million for the production.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides has held the record for most expensive movie ever made, costing Disney $378.5 million when tax rebates were added in.  The film made $1.4 billion at the worldwide box office, so it did end up paying off.

Previous Avengers films have each taken in at least $1.4 billion in box office returns (with The Avengers making 1.5 billion and Avengers: Age of Ultron making 1.4 billion) so no doubt Marvel is thinking it can make back the money with the newest installments. But will it be enough to justify the exorbitant budget? The previous films only spent $220-250 million per film, so Marvel have at least doubled the budget for these two films.

With star power including Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Pratt, Scarlett Johansson, Brie Larson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Hemsworth, Zoe Saldana,  Samuel L. Jackson, Mark Ruffalo, and more, hopefully this huge superhero match-up will result in huge profits.

Avengers: Infinity War is due in 2018, and the second part, known as Untitled Avengers, is due in 2019.