On the eve of the start of the second season of the animated series Arcane based on League of Legends, Variety, citing its sources, spoke about the production of a joint show between Netflix and Riot Games.
Image Source: Netflix
According to Variety, Arcane’s 18 episodes (nine per season) cost $250 million to produce and promote, making it the most expensive animated series in history—by a wide margin.
The production of the first season allegedly cost more than $80 million, and the second spent almost $100 million. In addition, Riot invested $60 million of its own funds into marketing the first season – much more than Netflix.
«Arcane” will almost certainly not become a profitable project for Riot – the best option seems to be breaking even
Sources to Variety report that the show was so expensive due to Riot’s inexperience in the field: during production, there were frequent cost overruns that were provoked by delays in scripts.
In addition, in 2020, Riot paid Avengers directors Anthony and Joe Russo $5 million each, who were involved in working on the League of Legends film, to leave the project due to an unsuccessful contract.
Other possible League of Legends adaptations include a live-action series and an animated film
Riot Games co-founder Marc Merrill declined to comment on Arcane’s budget, but said, “We’re more than comfortable spending on a show that’s worthy of our players’ time.”
The second season of Arcane will be released on Netflix in parts (November 9, 16 and 23) and will be the last for the series. According to show co-creator Christian Linke, the project had a “very clear ending” from the very beginning.