Amazon has a hot iron in the fire with its Prime Video streaming service. From April you can see the next multi-million dollar series there, which at 250 million US dollars is even the second most expensive of all time – although that was probably not intended at all.
It was not until September 2022 that “Rings of Power” not only started as the most expensive Amazon series, but also in general the most expensive series production of all time on Prime Video. According to the government of New Zealand, where the series was filmed, the first season cost a whopping $462 million. With additional costs, it probably even ended up at 715 million US dollars, of which 250 million are attributable to the rights to “Lord of the Rings” alone. “Citadel” doesn’t move in these spheres, but Amazon also had to provide 250 million US dollars for this series by the Russo brothers.
“Citadel” with a large array of stars
The brothers and Anthony and Joe Russo should be familiar to many cinema fans. The two were responsible for various Marvel films, including the two top-selling MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). Avengers: Endgame and Avengers: Infinity War together grossed nearly $5 billion.
After Marvel, the successful duo was actually at Amazon competitor Netflix. The streaming giant also provided a sizeable budget. The result is called “The Gray Man” and is again the most expensive Netflix film of all time. However, it was not worth it for Netflix – the film only stayed at number 1 on the streaming service for a good week.
“The Gray Man” was a celebrity-cast action flick. Stars like Ryan Gosling, Ana de Armas, Chris Evans and Regé-Jean Page brought a lot of attention to the title – and also cost a lot of money. The reviews were rather meager. The film is thus an example of how big names are not always a guarantee of great success.
“Citadel” is also in the action genre and the cast list is also quite impressive. The three biggest names are certainly Richard Madden (including “Game of Thrones”, “Eternals”), Priyanka Chopra Jonas (including “Baywatch”, “Quantico”) and Stanley Tucci (including “The Devil Wears Prada”, “In My Heaven”. “, “The Hunger Games”).
That’s why Citadel is so expensive
In fact, it’s not because of the star cast of “Citadel” that the costs for the series are going through the roof. According to the industry magazine “The Hollywood Reporters“ Rather, “creative differences” on the set are responsible for this. This led, among other things, to the well-known screenwriters Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec leaving the project. They were eventually followed by director Brian Kirk and executive producer Sarah Bradshaw.
Even before that, the costs were 170 million US dollars. However, the departures made costly reshoots of some scenes necessary. The project is probably particularly important to Amazon Studios boss Jennifer Salke. Among other things, she also made sure that Chopra Jonas received the same salary like her male co-star.
What is Prime Video’s Citadel about?
The title “Citadel” refers to the eponymous spy agency that the series is about. This is a global organization that is not obligated to any government. Years ago, Citadel was destroyed by a powerful crime syndicate called the Manticore. The two spies Mason (Richard Madden) and Nadia (Priyanka Copra Jonas) barely survived. They were also robbed of all memories of what happened. In order to stop Manticore from establishing a new world order, former Citadel member Bernard Orlick (Stanley Tucci) reactivates the two as spies and they embark on a mission across the globe. In doing so, they not only have to deal with the syndicate, but also with their feelings for each other, which they had forgotten for years.
“Citadel” starts on April 28, 2023 on Amazon Prime Video directly with two episodes. The remaining four episodes will then appear on the platform on a weekly basis. If you extrapolate this number of episodes to 250 million, the result is a proud sum of 41.6 million US dollars – per episode. This definitely puts the series in the league of the most expensive of all time and puts it ahead of “Stranger Things”, which has hitherto sold for 30 million US dollars per episode place 2 occupied.