The budgets of the series The Acolyte for Disney+ have been revealed, and it’s definitely a lot of money.
This is one of the biggest sorrows for the planet in recent years Star Wars. The cancellation of the series The Acolyte on Disney+ was done on the sly, without noise. Disney’s Order 66 was carried out, causing the instant death of the series, while the creator of the series Leslye Headland had even already announced the importance of an iconic character for season 2. However, this contract termination did not surprise the main actress of The Acolyte.
Disney had gone to great lengths to ensure the success of its Acolyte. Filming in natural settings, a very solid cast carried by Amandla Stenberg and Lee Jung-jae (thought for the all too rare Carrie-Anne Moss), and a scenario which should open up the possibility of exploiting the period of the High Republic on small (and big?) screens. But all of this came at a staggering cost, the amount of which was recently revealed.
A crazy budget for The Acolyte
Revelations of the budgets allocated to the series The Acolyte were made by the magazine Forbesin an article published on September 26, 2024. According to the magazine’s sources, it is the sum of 230 million dollars which was invested by Disney for the creation of this series. The figures revealed by Forbes are taken from the tax returns and the annual accounts report of the company Blue Stockings UK Limited, one of the Disney subsidiaries, whose accounts date from September 2023. This figure is therefore likely to be revised upwards.
This amount was allocated to a single season of eight episodes, making each episode cost an average of $28.75 million. A budget which is slightly lower than that granted to the first season of the series Andorwhich would have benefited from a budget of 250 million dollars. For comparison, the film Rogue One cost $232 million. Outside of the franchise Star Wars, The Dark Knight Rises et Captain America: Civil War each benefited from a budget of 230 million dollars.
For a few dollars more
With such a budget, The Acolyte went to rank among the most expensive series in history. In terms of cost per episodes (28.75 million for The Acolyte), Leslye Headland’s series is placed just after The Rings of Power of Amazon Prime with its 58 million granted per episode, and the 30 million dollars per episode of Stranger Things (knowing that the first seasons benefited from a budget of 6 million dollars per episode). Marvel series She-Hulk et WandaVision would have benefited from 25 million dollars per episode, when each episode of House of the Dragon would cost $20 million. The Mandalorian would have received a budget of 15 million per episode.
As for the budgets and total costs of the series, it is difficult to establish a real ranking, since depending on the number of seasons and episodes, the amounts allocated can vary and must be cumulative. The Rings of Power remains the most expensive series in history officially, with a global budget of 425 million dollars in total. Season 4 of Strangers Things alone cost $270 million.
On the Disney side, we will take into account Andorwith its 250 million for its first season. The production of the series Secret Invasion of Disney+ cost the sum of 212 million dollars. In the department of dead-but-so-much series, Disney had granted a budget of 156.8 million dollars to Willow.
With such a budget, Disney’s expectations must have been very high. Despite a strong audience for the first three episodes, the audiences collapsed. The series failed to enter the overall Nielsen rankings of most-watched series, and only appeared in the Nielsen rankings Top 10 Original Streaming only three weeks, before disappearing from the rankings after the fourth episode. It’s therefore no surprise that Disney cuts funding to the series.
Disney’s huge wallet seems to have remained open for the franchise Star Warssince the release of season 2 ofAndor will arrive in 2025, and that the highly anticipated series Star Wars : Skeleton Crew is scheduled to arrive on Disney+ on December 4. As for the Mandalorianwe will find it in cinemas with The Mandalorian & Grogu in 2026.
