Agatha All Along's Secret Weapon Helps Marvel's New MCU Hit
The latest hit MCU show on Disney+ is also the cheapest to make.
Agatha All Along is off to a spookily great start on Disney+ and one secret weapon might be a big reason why. Viewership numbers are in for the latest Marvel Studios show and 9.3 million people tuned-in last week for Episode 1 and 2. That would rank alongside Percy Jackson and the Olympians's well-regarded premiere last year. But, one big fact makes that great early showing even better. The Hollywood Reporter shared the fact that Agatha All Along is Marvel Studios' cheapest TV show ever. Jac Schaeffer's show splashed onto the scene without a powerhouse Avengers cameo (for now…) and great vibes and they're just paying off at the moment.
Previously, Echo was the record holder for lowest budget MCU TV show. Sydney Freeland's Marvel Spotlight series came in around $40 million to produce. Agatha All Along squeaking in below that should raise some eyebrows. The fact that this show almost had as many viewers as a Star Wars series and more than critically beloved series like X-Men '97 in week 1 is wild to consider. (Especially, when you take into account all the discourse online about an Agatha series being unnecessary. With these results, look for that magical side of the MCU to get dusted off at least one more time before The Multiverse Saga concludes.) Much has been made of the large MCU and Disney budgets for shows and movies in the streaming era, the decision-makers up top are going to enjoy this development a great deal.
A big cheer for Kathryn Hahn and the little show that could.
- Marvel Entertainment)Before Agatha All Along's trailer premiered, there were reports that there was a bit of sunny disposition within Marvel Studios surrounding their Halloween offering. Some fans dismissed those murmurs as just conjecture. But, after the first three episodes of the MCU show, it would seem that maybe the people inside knew something that the Internet at large had a little bit of trouble with. Namely, that Agatha All Along was a fundamentally different risk than anyone could have accounted for. Sure, when you're spending almost $200 million on these shows, they have to bowl over fans immediately. But, when you're not even plunking down half that amount and getting the social media zeitgeist to take notice anyway? There's even more to smile about then.
The Love For WandaVision Doesn't Hurt Either
Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany star in Marvel's WandaVision.
- Marvel Studios)Of all the positives surrounding Agatha All Along, you have to mention the WandaVision fans doing their part too. The Scarlet Witch fandom has made their presence felt on social media in the early going for this series. Following Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, a lot of fans lamented that they had no idea when they would see Wanda Maximoff again, if not in this show. So, when the time came to let Marvel Studios know how much they missed Westview and tis part of the MCU, they pulled up like it was 2021. The Scarlet Witch might not even cameo during Agatha All Along. But, you would never know that was even a possibility from how WandaVision fans have thrown their entire weight behind the latest series. It's been interesting to see evolve over the last two weeks, and could result in a crescendo by the time Halloween rolls around.
The MCU was in a very different spot in 2021. However, there's a very cogent argument to be made that Marvel Studios is in as good of a spot right now as it was back in the early Disney+ days. The run of titles in 2024 has been an absolute return to form after all the hand wringing online to close out 2023. (It turns out that an actors and writers' strike has a big effect on the reception of projects. The year of Barbenheimer should have really taught commentators how massive marketing is for a variety of projects.) Echo, X-Men '97, Deadpool & Wolverine, and now Agatha All Along is a pretty strong roster. (Reminder that Echo's viewership has always been higher than social media would let on. And, Daredevil now waits in the wings to smash whatever number is the high-water mark for the TV side of things in this franchise.)
If Agatha All Along reveals any big MCU developments on the path of The Witches' Road, expect fan interest to expand even further. Fans of more "street-level" characters have to be licking their chops at these developments. All of those heroes and vigilantes carry the possibility of smaller budgets paying huge dividends too. (As an aside, the relatively quaint budget for Blade suddenly looks more rosy than it did a couple of months ago too. It would be nothing less than shocking if Marvel Studios didn't follow this Halloween Season formula with Mahershala Ali's long-awaited turn as the iconic character.) So, yeah the "reformatting" or "retooling" is doing some of what people argued that it would have. (Or maybe Jac Schaeffer and Kathryn Hahn know what they're doing?) At any rate, the hot streak continues.
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