SPOILER: The Acolyte -- Disney+ Star Wars -- begins June 5, 2024

[Disney Irish]

You would think so. My thought is this. After last Jedi and rise of Skywalker you need to leave that timeframe alone for a good long time. Same with acolyte. It's too divisive now. Let it rest and come back to it later. There's plenty of timeframes you can go to. Of course I have a bit of a motive wanting my Revan old republic story.

I just think it would be a good bridge between the new and old. And if done right it would be engaging and wouldn't be divisive.

And honestly it doesn't appear like they are leaving even the Skywalker Saga era anytime soon, even if not telling direct Skywalker related stories.

I have no doubt they'll get to the Old Republic in live action at some point soon. But I just think the High Republic is an interesting time period to continue telling stories in.

No offense but, heck no. Lol

Just leave Yoda alone. Keep the mystery of the character. I think baby yoda is brilliant for giving back story on the species, little snip its so we can sort of put the puzzle of him together while leaving the mystery intact.

And no offense, but I can't be the only one that wants to see more of Yoda's backstory on screen, and I would bet my life I'm not. You don't necessarily need to give away the entire mystery, but you can reveal a bit more. How cool would it be to see a series set in the High Republic showing Yoda starting as a young Padawan and end with him getting on the High Council. That would still leave a lot of his life a mystery but still give a lot of backstory about his character.

I think so anyways.

 

[BrianLo]

Just FYI:

3 out of 7 weeks, The Acolyte did manage to get into Nielsen's Top Ten. And Nielsen did reveal that The Acolyte just barely got beat out of the Top Ten one week.

So... 4 out of 7 weeks in the Top Eleven.

Interesting articles out there on The Acolyte out there today. Looks like there's a neat tax angle that Disney could indeed have its figurative cake (an unpopular show with a definite spin) and eat it too (using it as a tax write off by yet again removing its existence) just like they did with Willow.

This is not meant to be a defense of Acolyte post. Just so it isn’t confused as such.

I’m pretty certain there’s simply not much to write off in this scenario. While it wasn’t deemed strong enough to justify a second season, it also didn’t fall completely flat in the same way the likes of Willow or Artemis Fowl did.

Maybe Acolyte did 50% of what they were hoping for and 90% of what was financially viable. If not fully viable. These metrics are somewhat pre-ordained and the Acolyte viewership was not intrinsically ‘abysmal’. So I would be pretty personally surprised if it was written off.

 

[erasure fan1]

I just think it would be a good bridge between the new and old. And if done right it would be engaging and wouldn't be divisive.

Oh I agree. I'm just not sure after acolyte people will be receptive to it. I just think it needs some time to rest. Of course anything could be successful if it's well done.

And no offense, but I can't be the only one that wants to see more of Yoda's backstory on screen, and I would bet my life I'm not.

Oh by no means are you the only one. But there's an even larger contingent that wants no part of it. Especially now with current Disney/Lucasfilm. When it was very heavily rumored back when the "star wars stories" were being announced. Yoda, boba Fett and Solo were all in the running. Fett and solo were fairly even, but Yoda was a definite majority to the don't do it side. Even George was vey anti Yoda backstory, he wanted it a mystery. It would absolutely be the single riskiest project they could take on. I'm not necessarily against having Yoda show up in another story. But I don't want it to be during this current administration.

 

[Disney Irish]

Oh I agree. I'm just not sure after acolyte people will be receptive to it. I just think it needs some time to rest. Of course anything could be successful if it's well done.

Agree to disagree, I don't think it needs time to rest as you can still stay in the same era and just tell a different story. Its just like what they are doing with the other shows/movies.

Oh by no means are you the only one. But there's an even larger contingent that wants no part of it. Especially now with current Disney/Lucasfilm. When it was very heavily rumored back when the "star wars stories" were being announced. Yoda, boba Fett and Solo were all in the running. Fett and solo were fairly even, but Yoda was a definite majority to the don't do it side. Even George was vey anti Yoda backstory, he wanted it a mystery. It would absolutely be the single riskiest project they could take on. I'm not necessarily against having Yoda show up in another story. But I don't want it to be during this current administration.

I disagree, I think many in the fandom want more Yoda backstory than you believe. Just by the reaction/reception that Grogu got shows that a majority of the fandom wants to know more about Yoda and his species. I don't feel its untouchable.

As far as the "administration", who are you talking about? Because as mentioned in this thread Kennedy is basically out the door already, I know you don't believe it but its happening. You don't think Filoni/Favreau would do a good job with a Yoda story?

And personally I think if he still owned it George would have eventually gotten around to telling a Yoda story.

 

[TsWade2]

Don't be too surprise that it might be Willowed. Meaning removed from Disney+.

 

[MoonRakerSCM]

Just FYI:

3 out of 7 weeks, The Acolyte did manage to get into Nielsen's Top Ten. And Nielsen did reveal that The Acolyte just barely got beat out of the Top Ten one week.

So... 4 out of 7 weeks in the Top Eleven.

Compared to other SW series, not very good.

Compared to most streaming series... pretty good.

I just don't want to hear "no one watched it."

Less watched it. But not no one.

Middle ground does exist.

Enough people watched it to cancel it a month after the 1st season ended. Obviously not enough people watched it.

The real thing here is though- the show was so horrible that not enough people purchased Disney+ to warrant the idiotic price tag of the show.

 

[BrianLo]

Enough people watched it to cancel it a month after the 1st season ended. Obviously not enough people watched it.

The real thing here is though- the show was so horrible that not enough people purchased Disney+ to warrant the idiotic price tag of the show.

That’s not how D+ series are funded nor justified. It’s a formula derived from audience viewership in terms of what the service uses to justify purchasing series. By engagement time of its viewers. Existing users do bring in monthly revenue.

It missed its renewal mark by about a third. Based on similarly priced series like Andor and Shogun.

Not being renewed is not remotely in the same wheelhouse as being written off. It would be based on the financial metrics and viewership utilized to justify/budget the series and how much that engagement undershot that mark. Perhaps, if it missed its viewership justification by 80%, but we’re talking 50 million minutes viewed and not the rough average of 300 that it commanded. It likely would have been renewed at 400 million and their ‘hope’ to call it a raging success was probably 500-600.

There’s too much brand damage to maybe write off 20 million to dump it from the service. We haven’t even seen Disney write off the Marvels or Strange world for those reason. Plus, there’s technically a whole lot more to write off in both of those productions cases. It’s just ridiculous YouTubers talking out their rears.

 

[BrianLo]

A good frame of reference. Content engagement minutes for Indy 5 were about 1 billion minutes before it falls off the charts. Its production was paid 120 million for the streaming rights. Acolyte engagement is about 2 billion minutes prior to its cancellation. TV productions probably aren’t acquired/justified in the exact same wheelhouse, but it gives a good metric of where they were at against its 180 million budget and why there is nothing to write off.

 

[Phroobar]

Just FYI:

3 out of 7 weeks, The Acolyte did manage to get into Nielsen's Top Ten. And Nielsen did reveal that The Acolyte just barely got beat out of the Top Ten one week.

So... 4 out of 7 weeks in the Top Eleven.

Compared to other SW series, not very good.

Compared to most streaming series... pretty good.

I just don't want to hear "no one watched it."

Less watched it. But not no one.

Middle ground does exist.

"Let's strive for mediocracy." - Bob Iger

 

[MoonRakerSCM]

A Star Wars show was cancelled. That's brand damage. Too much, too fast, mediocre content.

 

[Willmark]

No matter how some may try to spin it, the Acolyte was a flop.

The majority of SW fans did not like it enough to continue watching. People can argue about “not real fans” all they want. Doesn’t erase the facts.

 

[Disney Irish]

No matter how some may try to spin it, the Acolyte was a flop.

I don't think anyone here said otherwise, it was a flop especially for a SW series. Some posters like @BrianLo and @MisterPenguin were just trying to add some context into the situation.

The majority of SW fans did not like it enough to continue watching. People can argue about “not real fans” all they want. Doesn’t erase the facts.

Again, I don't think anyone here ever claimed anything about "not real fans" in terms of the viewership.

 

[BrianLo]

No matter how some may try to spin it, the Acolyte was a flop.

This is not meant to be a defense of Acolyte post. Just so it isn’t confused as such.

Clearly leading with my warning was not strong enough. Acolyte was a failure, it was clearly meant to have a second season and was cancelled due to insufficient viewership.

What I was trying to explain was how it cannot and will not be written off. It did not underperform sufficiently to those levels to have anything to write down. It's semantics, but we are parsing out failure and flop - the latter of which, to me, implies almost no traction at all was achieved. See Strange World.

 

[Hawkeye_2018]

I don't understand how KK or whoever saw the script for Acolyte and thought, "yeah lets slap the SW badge on this and spend a TON of money on it"

 

[erasure fan1]

I don't understand how KK or whoever saw the script for Acolyte and thought, "yeah lets slap the SW badge on this and spend a TON of money on it"

Because Kennedy is in no way a creative. It's been the issue with most all of the Disney star wars in my opinion. As far as the ton of money, I'm not sure why that happened. There is no world where the Acolyte deserved a budget double Obi-wans. You give a show like Acolyte no more than 80mil. Then number expectations allow for a season two. It really doesn't matter at this point. Because with a screenplay like they had, it wasn't going to go anywhere anyway. 50mil or 300mil, it wouldn't matter.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

I don't understand how KK or whoever saw the script for Acolyte and thought, "yeah lets slap the SW badge on this and spend a TON of money on it"

It highlights the problem of having too many likeminded people in the room and silencing dissenting voices, if everyone in the room is afraid of being called an “…ist” for daring to say a script is bad you end up with bad scripts.

Judging by the fact Disney continues to blame “toxic fans” rather than themselves for their failures they still don’t seem to recognize they are approving bad scripts.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

We were talking about her not leaving at the end of her contract. I wasn't talking about this very second.

There’s no way to bank on that

This is the worst case of corporate hubris maybe in history

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Because Kennedy is in no way a creative. It's been the issue with most all of the Disney star wars in my opinion. As far as the ton of money, I'm not sure why that happened. There is no world where the Acolyte deserved a budget double Obi-wans. You give a show like Acolyte no more than 80mil. Then number expectations allow for a season two. It really doesn't matter at this point. Because with a screenplay like they had, it wasn't going to go anywhere anyway. 50mil or 300mil, it wouldn't matter.

We know why this is…but it needs to be left unsaid to not stir it up

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

It highlights the problem of having too many likeminded people in the room and silencing dissenting voices, if everyone in the room is afraid of being called an “…ist” for daring to say a script is bad you end up with bad scripts.

Judging by the fact Disney continues to blame “toxic fans” rather than themselves for their failures they still don’t seem to recognize they are approving bad scripts.

 

[flynnibus]

Judging by the fact Disney continues to blame “toxic fans” rather than themselves for their failures they still don’t seem to recognize they are approving bad scripts.

The toxicity is that they can't just let stuff go.

Studios literally live on low batting averages... they know not every film is going to be a hit... and they don't go on forever when a film doesn't land.

Yet many star wars 'fans' obsess over the failures more than they do the things they actually do like. They chastise others as not being 'real' fans if they don't share the same voracity for wanting to tear something down and keep stomping on it until everyone in the room tells them they are 100% right. In the social media era people spend so much time trying to get people to listen to them they end up spending all this energy on preaching instead of just having a discussion and then moving on until something new comes along to spark some new angle.

And this is not a defense of 'only sunshine' people... far from it. It's just a call out of 'we get it, you don't have to keep repeating yourself' nor does your voracity for tearing something apart define your aptitude nor credibility.

Too many 'fans' measure their fandom by their level of critical output and it's really not that interesting to others who aren't addicted the same way.

I'm not here still complaining about how kenner ruined star wars toys by refusing to update the vinyl figures to have articulating elbows, etc in the face of competition from GI Joe... just like I won't be trying to convince everyone how bad a show is unless it's part of discussion of merit. There are no trophies for converting people...