A24's Elden Ring Movie Reportedly Costs Nearly $200 Million, Almost Triple Its Previous Record
By CriticalPixel ·
A24 built its name on movies that cost less than a Marvel catering bill, and now it is sitting on a video game adaptation that reportedly cost nearly $200 million. According to a Wall Street Journal report relayed by IGN, Alex Garland's live-action Elden Ring film carries a budget of almost $200 million, which makes it the most expensive movie the studio has ever produced by a wide margin. The film is dated for March 3, 2028, filming wrapped in July, and the number is already changing how people talk about what A24 even is. Nobody has seen a trailer or an official image yet, so right now the price tag is the loudest thing about the whole project.
The Number That Breaks A24's Own Record
Until now the studio's most expensive picture was Marty Supreme, the Timothee Chalamet drama that landed at a reported $70 million. Before that the record belonged to Garland's own Civil War at about $50 million. Insider Gaming ran the same numbers on Saturday and lined them up the same way, with Elden Ring leaping past both. Do the math and the film costs nearly three times what A24 has ever spent on a single release. That is not a bump in the budget, that is a different company wearing the same logo.
IGN points out where that puts the film in the wider industry. A budget near $200 million lines it up with Marvel tentpoles like Spider-Man: No Way Home at $200 million and Jurassic World Rebirth at a reported $180 million. Those are movies made to anchor an entire summer, backed by studios with decades of merchandising machinery behind them. A24 is a company that spent 14 years proving you did not need that kind of money to make something memorable. Now it is betting its biggest check ever on a game about a silent protagonist fighting demigods in a ruined fantasy world.
The figure also did not stay put. Earlier reports had the production pinned at just over $100 million, which means either those first numbers were wrong or the budget ballooned somewhere between announcement and the end of filming. IGN notes it is hard to say why the cost climbed because so little is known about the movie. Treat the new figure as a report from sources rather than a confirmed ledger, because neither A24 nor FromSoftware has put a number on it themselves.
What We Know About the Movie
The adaptation was announced in May 2025, with Alex Garland writing and directing and a cast that includes Kit Connor, Cailee Spaeny, Nick Offerman, Havana Rose Liu and Tom Burke. Insider Gaming says the shoot was expected to take around 100 days of principal photography, and IGN confirms filming wrapped in July this year. Early set photos leaked online and suggested faithful recreations of some iconic locations, followed by more leaks not long after. Beyond that there is no official footage, no teaser and no confirmed plot, so every theory about where the money went is guesswork until A24 shows something.
The source material gives the studio plenty of reason to swing big. Elden Ring launched in February 2022 with world-building from George R. R. Martin and has sold over 36 million copies across Steam, PlayStation and Xbox according to Insider Gaming. It is one of the most recognized action RPGs of the decade, and its fan base is loud, protective and very good at spotting a bad adaptation. Anyone who has checked the game page on Steam knows how much visual identity there is to live up to, from the Erdtree glow to the grotesque boss designs.
Community Reaction
Reaction so far is limited. The budget report was picked up by IGN and Insider Gaming within hours, and insider Tom Henderson posted the headline on X, but most of what circulated was the number itself rather than fan opinion. Fewer than three independent reactions that I could read amounted to real commentary, so there is no honest way to call a consensus. What the early posts do show is surprise at the size of the figure, mostly from film accounts reacting to the comparison with Marty Supreme rather than from game fans.
The CriticalPixel Take
Here is the uncomfortable part: a huge budget is not a quality signal. Plenty of expensive game and comic adaptations have turned into forgettable mush because nobody trusted the source material enough to leave it alone. Garland has a strong track record with tone and atmosphere, and Civil War proved he can make a tense, ugly, beautiful movie on a mid-size budget. Giving him four times that money for a world built on dread and silence could go either way. If the extra cash goes into practical sets and creature work, great. If it goes into noisy action set pieces that betray what made the game feel lonely and strange, that $200 million will look like a very expensive mistake.
There is also a business angle nobody should skip. A24 only gets paid if this thing reaches mainstream audiences, which means convincing people who never played the game to buy a ticket for a 2028 fantasy epic. Game adaptations have found a groove lately, yet none of them carried a price tag this heavy on an arthouse company's balance sheet. The studio has bet its reputation, its biggest budget and its most famous director on a franchise whose fans will not forgive a cheap cash grab. Now we wait for the first trailer, because until it shows up, all anyone can do is stare at the number and wonder what $200 million buys in the Lands Between.
Sources
Insider Gaming: A24's Elden Ring Movie Costs Nearly $200 Million
Tom Henderson on X: A24's Elden Ring Movie Costs Nearly $200 Million
IGN on X: Elden Ring movie reportedly carries a budget of almost $200 million