What money it costs to make Hercules and Xena TV shows?

Question

What money it costs to make Hercules and Xena TV shows?

Does anyone here know exact or at the very least rough close estimates on what was the casting and filming budgets of TV series such as Hercules The Legendary Journeys and Xena Warrior Princess, in the 90's and early 2000's?

Preferably so the production cost values per each episode made and aired (Hercules did 111 episodes through 6 seasons and 4 Pilot TV movies that preceded it. Xena had 134 episodes made through 6 seasons)? There's no info on this on any wikies, and not even on IMDB. Was such info ever available to anyone?

No

$1 million per episode, thereabouts

Sounds like a bad case of we used everything on the studio, that means 90 years of irreplaceable props

Checked, but...even if no actual numbers ever surfaced for those two shows...can it at least be calculated roughly by sheer visual examination of costumes, sets built, locations filmed at (mostly New Zealand), number of Extras/NPC characters being in camera shots, stunts/choreography (both Kevin Sorbo and Lucy Lawless were actually attending fighting and stunwork training classes for the show), 3D/CGI special effects and orchestral music used for the soundtrack scores?

That sounds quite a bit way too low, don't you think? Even if taking into consideration the fact that both Hercules and Xena used quite a bit of "90's era"-tier CGI in their special effects, this doesn't seem to be that low when you examine costumes (including all the extras/NPCs in those shows), sets built, and the fact that Bruce Campbell was a recurring character and a pretty well established actor by that time, thus obviously demanded higher payroll salary cut, I bet.

Bruce wasn't an established actor. Evil dead was an OK franchise but niche

And then you woke up.

Nigga you're trippin'.
Bruce Campbell was in many features post Evil Dead and also fully voiced main protagonist of a Space Sim game Tachyon The Fringe, with a role that was specifically and exclusively tailored for him in that game.

Also, saying Evil Dead is "niche" is downright retarded, given the budget of first one was barely 400k (roughly around 2 mil nowadays), and it accumulated almost 30 mil (about 150 mil today) in income. That's a x75 times-fold bonus over the filming budget. You call that "niche"? And then it also had two sequels, which are also well established classics. Stop being such a fucking retard, ffs.

That sounds quite a bit way too low, don't you think?

NTA but that's actually pretty close to what '90s Star Trek had per episode and those were sci-fi series which is far more expensive to produce.

it was that high because most of the sets/costumes/whatever were used in both shows.

Although Xena, which is produced for more than $1 million per episode, is the top-rated hour-long action show in syndication, viewership has declined over the last three years.

abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=114424

Shouldn't that technically make it cheaper, since they could reuse assets/footage?

Hmmm...so, I guess, it would've safe to say/presume that it was hovering about 1.5~2 mil per each episode for Xena, and about 1.1~1.4 mil for Hercules, on average.

Hercules had nearly same level of production, but it's assets were smaller and there was less extras/NPCs involved, thus less people to pay to. Xena also had bigger areas and props to shoot in, since she traveled all around the world by lore, so it's not all just Greek or Roman architecture or locations.

it was 1 million new zealand dollar ~400-500k us dollar

Did this guy really fall to his death or was he killed?

I've always seen people say these were "cheap" shows to make but it doesn't seem that way. As bad as CG was it was expensive at the time to do that level of early CG. The sets were very well made, and they had tons of extras in every episode. I'm not sure how much they could've re-used. I'm guessing these shows were far more expensive than what people think. Probably as much as normal high budget prime time shows.
nah, he died for being an idiot, which is too bad since he was a great actor. Although it's not like he would've ever made another hit tv show or movie, he would've been doomed to bad DTV movies.

If we take inflation into consideration, it means that Hercules' per-episode production and filming cost roughly about 5~6 mil $ in 2025's rates, and Xena's production and filming costs about twice that, so roughly 10~14 mil (around 12 on average) per episode.

Guess this means that, if I were to have 500 mil on my hand right now (I am a multimillionaire nowadays, but currently still sub-100 on my bank accounts/deposits), I would've been able to film roughly 100 episodes of Hercules'esque or 50 Xena'esque episodes of a similar style of a TV show.

Guess exorbitant production and filming costs eventually became the prime and sole reason why both shows were cancelled abruptly, despite immense popularity and everyone's love towards them. Well, that and the fact Kevin Sorbo got cancer, and that Kevin Smith (the OTHER Kevin Smith, not the Silent Bob dude), the actor who played Ares through the entire runs of both shows, completely chimped out in China and won Darwin's award in 2002.

His wiki says he was about to start filming tears of the sun with Bruce Willis. He could have taken all of Karl Urban's roles if he lived.

The budget for Hercules: The Legendary Journeys was generally estimated to be between $1 million to $1.5 million per episode. This was considered a relatively high budget for a syndicated show at the time, especially for its action sequences, elaborate sets, and special effects.

The budget for Xena: Warrior Princess was also estimated to be in the range of $1.5 million to $2 million per episode in its later seasons. The show had a similarly high production value, with large-scale battles, complex stunts, and special effects. Like Hercules, it was filmed primarily in New Zealand, which helped keep costs down.

He just finished his very first ever (and only) major starring role in a full-feature film, so he got high and drunk due to the celebratory adrenaline rush, chimped out at the production studios facility and decided to climb some flimsy prop of roughly three stories high, then slipped and fell on concrete pavement, headfirst, went to coma and eventually was euthanized once it was confirmed that he was braindead on the 10th or 11th day in the hospital. C' est la vie.

The wrong Kevin Smith died

It was definitely under 2mil for Xena.

I faintly remember that costume being auctioned on ebay or similar years and years ago

If we take ALL expenses into consideration, not just production and staff salaries, but also such things as food delivery to filming locations, additional security, medical insurance, and ESPECIALLY expenditures on different governmental "passes" and "approvals" due to the fact that more than half of Hercules and Xena were filmed in natural forest and beach preserve territories, and New Zealanders are SUPER-ANAL about those (look up the vids about morons that try to "tresspass" on Lord of The Rings' and Hobbit's Shire filming set locations every year, get caught and arrested, and pay exorbitant fines or get jail time outright), it's not unrealistic to assume that the mentioned "more than 1 mil per episode" in the article above basically constitutes at least 2 mil for Xena.

Guess exorbitant production and filming costs eventually became the prime and sole reason why both shows were cancelled abruptly, despite immense popularity and everyone's love towards them

Nah, The ratings had slipped, the shows had run their course and audiences had moved on, they're staples of the 90s that the 00s were not going to accept even if they tried to be "edgy and different" in both Xenas/Hercs final seasons.. Hercule's got axed the year before Xena's since Hercule's had been in a decline when Xena became bigger and its final season got shortened. But they still had time to plan out the final season and make it a final season.
It was similar for Xena but it was able to hold an extra year and always with full seasons, but still in its last season they clearly planned it as a finale and it works, they had already pretty much exhausted all storylines they could since like Season 4 of both shows. They were running on fumes with ideas, they literally killed all the greek gods in a show about greek gods. What else could they do after that.
Don't forget another spin-off Young Hercules had also already failed and that one had the marketing of Disney's Hercules movie helping the brand of Hercules.

They would have said "2 mil or near 2 mil" if that were true. It's probably more like 1.5 mil.

Wasn't Ryan gosling young Hercules?

He was alwaysmid that's why he starred in Bubba ho tep

The ratings had slipped

Dude, Xena's ratings barely had 200k viewership difference between Season 5 and 6, and both of those were around 5 mil, while "best" season had attendance of about 6.5~7 mil. Cancelling a show because of a very slight drop of less than 1 mil? Come-the-fuck-on.

Yep. His very first major role. He was 16 or 17 at the time.

Fuck off. Bruce is beloved and great. A groovy chin that could kill.

This was considered a relatively high budget for a syndicated show at the time

Still is, since this is nearing Gaym of Trans' levels of per-episode costs, if we adjust for inflation.

If Hercules or Xena were to be completely rebooted nowadays and had same equivalent amounts of props, assets, filming locations, and extras/actors/NPCs used in filming, per-episode budget would've definitely been at least around 8 mil at minimal, which is right in the GoT's ballpark territory.

If Hercules or Xena were to be completely rebooted nowadays

Never ever ever wish that curse upon us.

I mean, they already tried in 2016 or 2017, if I recall correctly. It was dropped for unknown reasons, however. Probably because they saw how heavily troonified and niggered the jewdustry became. Even despite the fact that Xena was extremely "ahead of it's time" when pushing LGBLMTQ shit, forcing lesbians to cream all over even in the 90's. And, BTW, Hercules technically fucked Iolaus at some point in the official Greek lore, which is, at least according to Homer (who was a very obvious homo and a kiddie diddler. He's a PEDOPHILE! WHOOOAAAA, BUDDY!), "was fine", so, hey. If they'd were to reboot it in 2016/2017, Hercule and Iolaus would've been fuckbuddies and Xena with Gabrielle would've been scissoring and 69'ing like there's no tomorrow, each and every single episode, I bet. Which would've garnered them all the Golden Globes and Oscars, due to how gayass the jewdustry became.

Lucy Lawless was the first woman I ever jork'd it to on the regular. Fucking kino mommy energy.

Damn, AI is getting better and better by the day. Moar.

Lucy Lawless was the first woman I ever jork'd it to

Dude, you're way too young. Mine was Alisa Seleznyova, ffs.

I'm in my mid 30s nigger. Xena was always on syndicated when I had the house to myself in the morning.

someone from reddit upscaled a few episodes but I don't think the project moved past just a fan attempt. wish they'd remaster the entire series officially

It was filmed in New Zed-land so probably cheaper than Vancouver

That's upscale? I thought it was AI generated from mere prompts.

Xena with Gabrielle would've been scissoring and 69'ing like there's no tomorrow, each and every single episode

they were already doing that back in the 90s. it was called 'subtext'

In the 90's Xena was bisexual, since she also fucked with different guys around the corner, with no issue. Hell, there was even official produced comic where she, as Lucy Lawless Xena, married (or almost married? I don't remember details, either way, they fucked) Kevin Sorbo Hercules.

The nu-Xena from rebooted version highly likely would've been 100% butch dyke lesbian all the way, however.

she probably would have been black or mexican, too

Well, she's Thracian. Thracia was sandwiched in the middle of a triangle between Bulgaria, Turkey, and Greece (technically Thracia is further from Turkey, considered as north-east of Greece or south-west of Bulgaria, somewhere there), so she might've as ween could've been a niggerfied turkroach (since Thracia had it's own share of blacc).

Ancient Thrace did not have blacks,my fren

this was long before turkey was muslimified
troy was in turkey
they were probably bronze skinned just from being in the sun all day, but I don't think they were African black

Tell that to "Thracian slaves" at Rome's Colosseum. Spartacus was white, but there were niggers too, from that same region.

They were "mulattoes", which is basically "whitest nigger around", as in "black with huwhite's mind and behavior".

Cheap-ass fantasy or sci-fi movies going straight-to-tv/streaming today cost around $1M, and these series are not that different. Also consider that many props could be reused for different episodes.

these series are not that different

Retard alert!