The Disney+ “Star Wars” murder mystery series “The Acolyte” acquired respectable critiques from the critics, however as its considerably abysmal 19% Popcornmeter rating on Rotten Tomatoes proves, the fandom did not precisely embrace the present. Whereas the sequence’ High Republic setting could have been a gold mine for “Star Wars,” the fan reception and the present’s cancellation after a single season imply that we’d not get to revisit the period on display any time quickly. Absolutely, all of because of this “The Acolyte” will go down as a disastrous failure that nobody watched, proper?
Not fairly so. Quite the opposite, the 2024 year-end movie & TV report by leisure trade knowledge evaluation firm Luminate has revealed some attention-grabbing numbers about “The Acolyte.” Because it seems, the present was not solely the most-viewed “Star Wars” venture of 2024, nevertheless it was additionally the 12 months’s second most seen Disney+ sequence at a powerful 2.7 billion minutes. Solely “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” (3 billion viewing minutes) was capable of carry out higher for the platform.
The Acolyte did properly throughout a tough 12 months for main franchises
In some circumstances, the information {that a} cancelled “Star Wars” present truly did fairly properly is perhaps an excellent cause for the fandom to whip up a pleasant little outrage. Nonetheless, other than the aforementioned proven fact that probably the most vocal followers by no means actually obtained behind “The Acolyte,” the present’s viewing numbers include an asterisk. The Luminate report discovered that 2024 was a really tough 12 months for franchises, which is obvious while you evaluate the two.7 billion minutes accrued by “The Acolyte” with the earlier 12 months. In January 2024, Nielsen’s data (via Variety) pinpointed the authorized drama “Fits” because the most-watched streaming sequence of 2023, netting Netflix at least 57.7 billion minutes seen. In the meantime, the most-streamed Disney+ present was one other “Star Wars” sequence within the type of “The Mandalorian,” with 12.3 billion minutes seen.
Whereas that comparability might deflate the tires of “The Acolyte” a bit of, it is nonetheless value remembering that its viewing minutes did make it the streamer’s quantity two present of 2024 (that and with “Fits” particularly having 134 episodes versus eight for “The Acolyte,” a one-to-one comparability is not precisely honest). In truth, Disney has already explained that the cancellation of “The Acolyte” had little to do with its efficiency. As Disney Leisure co-chairman Alan Bergman beforehand informed Vulture, the choice to discontinue the costly present was purely monetary:
“In order it pertains to ‘Acolyte,’ we had been pleased with our efficiency, nevertheless it wasn’t the place we wanted it to be given the price construction of that title, fairly frankly, to go and make a season 2. In order that’s the rationale why we did not do this.”
“The Acolyte” is at present streaming in its entirety on Disney+.
