I think that, even if you don't like his designs, Woodruff & Co.'s presence pretty much garantees that the creature effects will be decent. The Strause have also shown that they can shoot things nicely. That said, the only way that the budget can affect this movie is on it's scale. And I think it'll be refreshing to see both these series going back to their medium-low budget and smaller scale roots. Besides, less money also means less producers sticking their noses.