A24’s ‘Elden Ring’ Movie Reportedly Costs Nearly Triple the Studio’s Old Record

A24 built its reputation on films that looked and felt like nothing else on the market, usually made for a fraction of what major studios spend. Its biggest hits came from daring auteur projects and festival discoveries rather than blockbuster budgets. That identity is being tested by one of the most ambitious video game adaptations in development.

The film in question is the live-action ‘Elden Ring‘ movie, written and directed by Alex Garland and produced with Bandai Namco Entertainment. The game launched in February 2022, was shaped by world-building from George R. R. Martin, and has sold over 36 million copies. Garland is a longtime fan who reportedly made a personal pitch to Bandai Namco and FromSoftware to bring it to the screen.

Now a new report puts a price tag on that ambition. The Wall Street Journal reports that the ‘Elden Ring’ movie budget is nearly $200 million, citing people familiar with the matter, which would make it A24’s most expensive film ever. Neither A24 nor Bandai Namco has published a figure, so the number remains unconfirmed.

The jump is dramatic. A24’s previous most expensive film was ‘Marty Supreme’, with a budget of around $70 million, which grossed $191 million. Before that, the record belonged to Garland’s own ‘Civil War’, which cost roughly $50 million.

That means ‘Elden Ring’ costs almost 3 times more than the studio’s previous high. It is also far above earlier reporting. When cameras started rolling in April, the film was said to carry a budget of well over $100 million, so the new figure is nearly double that estimate

Details about the spending are scarce, but the production offers clues. The film is being shot for IMAX, with principal photography reportedly running about 100 days. Set photos and videos from London showed recreations of some iconic locations, and practical sets may be pushing the costs upward.

The cast is also large. Kit Connor and Ben Whishaw lead, alongside Cailee Spaeny, Tom Burke, Havana Rose Liu, Sonoya Mizuno, Jonathan Pryce, Ruby Cruz, Nick Offerman, Peter Serafinowicz and others. Garland has reunited with several collaborators, including Connor from ‘Warfare’ and Spaeny from ‘Civil War’.

The budget surfaced in a wider Journal story about A24’s run at the box office this year. The studio has had a strong stretch, including the Elizabeth Holmes documentary ‘You Can See Everything’ and the horror hit ‘Backrooms’, which crossed $400 million worldwide on a reported $10 million budget. Those results show the studio can profit on a small scale, which makes a nearly $200 million bet all the more striking.

A24 has been building toward larger productions for some time. A 2022 funding round raised $225 million, and a later round led by Thrive Capital in 2024 pushed its valuation to $3.5 billion. With that backing, the studio is spending in a way once reserved for major franchises, including video game IP, IMAX and a long shoot.

Garland’s script has become a sort of artistic obsession for him, and the budget suggests the studio is willing to back it fully. Whether that pays off depends on how well the film speaks to both devoted players and general audiences. The risk is real, since nearly $200 million is a steep hurdle for any film outside the largest franchises.

The movie is set to open in theaters on March 3, 2028, in IMAX. No plot details have been confirmed, so it is still unclear how closely Garland’s script will follow the game’s story. Fans of FromSoftware’s challenging games will be watching closely for how the film handles the Lands Between.

Until trailers or official footage arrive, the budget is one of the few concrete signals of scale. It tells audiences that A24 expects this to be an event. And it raises a question about what an independent studio looks like once it starts playing at blockbuster size.

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