Is ‘The Acolyte’ a Bomb?
When The Walt Disney Company announced its next Star Wars project, fans expressed high hopes.
Now that the series has finished its first and likely only season, those hopes have been dashed.
Photo: Playbuzz.com
Is The Acolyte a bomb? The latest batch of streaming ratings and some other data points suggest yes.
Let’s discuss the show that has Star Wars fans venting even more than usual.
The Acolyte Vanishes
Photographer: Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images
Two weeks ago, Nielsen’s streaming ratings listed The Acolyte for the first time.
At that point, optimism remained high despite some sketchy word-of-mouth regarding the show.
Photo: Rappler
Of course, loudmouths complaining about Star Wars is a thing on the internet, and it’s that much worse for anything with a female lead.
So, experienced media analysts have learned to drown out the noise and investigate the story for themselves.
Photo: Lucasfilm
Well, I’m sad to inform you that this story is a bit different. The Acolyte appears to be failing.
Now, the story isn’t finished yet, at least not based on Nielsen ratings.
Photo: Lucasfilm
However, a trend has formed. During The Acolyte’s second week on the charts, the program dropped back a bit in popularity.
As I said the other day, that was to be expected, as Disney+ aired two episodes during The Acolyte’s first week of release.
(Center to right): Jedi Padawan Jecki Lon (Dafne Keen) and Master Lakshay (Paul Bullion) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
Those shows garnered 488 million viewer minutes. Then, the second week’s total fell to 370 million.
Nothing about that behavior is unusual, but it’s the latest data that concerns me.
Photo: Computer Hope
For the current week of Nielsen streaming data, The Acolyte is unlisted on the Originals chart.
Why is that a problem? The number ten show only claimed 298 million minutes. A Star Wars show should beat that.
Master Sol (Lee Jung-jae) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
The Acolyte didn’t. Even worse, there’s a Nielsen competitor on the rise. It’s a service called Luminate.
Thus far, Luminate’s numbers have more or less echoed Nielsen’s, but there’s a difference.
Photo: simplemost.com
Luminate doesn’t have the one-month delay. The “current” Nielsen chart is for June 17th through June 23rd.
Luminate has tracked the weeks since then, and The Acolyte hasn’t charted since June 27th. I’m afraid it’s a bust.
Disney’s Hulu Hits
On the bright side, this was still largely a solid week for Disney’s streaming content, especially Hulu.
On the Originals chart, Hulu earned two spots for new content.
Photo: Hulu
Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini gained 363 million viewer minutes, while Love Island managed 382 million.
Love Island is primarily a Peacock/Netflix program, but some episodes are available on Hulu now.
Photo: Disney+
On the Acquired chart, which I’ve taken to calling the Hulu chart, the streaming service claimed four spots.
More remarkably, all four titles had super-strong viewer totals.
Photo: FOX
Grey’s Anatomy led with 929 million, followed by Criminal Minds at 882 million, Family Guy at 877 million, and Bob’s Burgers at 862 million.
Of course, that’s on top of the end-all, be-all of Disney streaming hits.
Photo: Bluey
Bluey earned another 1.11 billion viewer minutes. At this point, it remains the most-watched streaming program of 2024.
Recently, a Bluey stat has become a headline, even though it’s a bit old.
Photo: Bluey.tv
Some folks have noticed that Bluey claims 29 percent of all Disney+ viewing.
I know that stat sounds extreme, but it’s at least partially based in reality.
Image: Disney Junior
While we’ll never know the exact totals, that’s the rough calculation from Nielsen’s 2023 streaming year in review.
Based on calculating Disney’s top performers, Bluey garnered nearly one-third of all total viewings on the service.
Photo: Disney+
I consider that sloppy math, but it’s still stunning to contemplate.
If Disney ever purchases the Bluey brand, stats like these explain why.
Disney’s Popular Movies Are Still Popular
Image: The Wall Street Journal
Finally, we’ll quickly discuss the most popular movies on Disney+.
You should be able to guess one of them by now. Yes, it’s Moana.
Photo: Disney
For the week in question, fans loyally watched another 252 million viewer minutes.
At this point, you should understand why I have so much confidence in Moana as a brand and Moana 2 as a potential blockbuster.
Image: Pixar
In fact, this story leads directly into the other one. Inside Out 2 is now within $10 million of becoming the biggest animated film ever.
By the end of the week, Inside Out 2 will surpass Frozen II to claim the title.
Image: Pixar
Not coincidentally, fans are rewatching Inside Out in combination with the performance of its sequel.
During the third week of June, Inside Out was the second-most streamed movie, earning 610 million minutes.
Photo: Disney/Pixar
So, Inside Out fever is running wild these days. However, it’s possible that Inside Out 2’s championship reign is short-lived.
Moana 2 has a real chance to match Inside Out 2’s box office run.
Photo: Disney
I’m not saying that will definitely happen, but if it does, Disney will have done twice this year what no animated movie has ever done before.
Stay tuned to find out if Moana 2 proves as popular as Inside Out 2.
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Feature Photo: ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM.
