Disney had a bigger pre-production budget for one upcoming Disney+ Star Wars series than even big-screen blockbusters like Rogue One.
Ever since Star Wars entered the world of streaming, the money behind these TV shows has been closely watched by both fans and executives.
As Disney reevaluates its streaming strategy, this rampant spending looks like it will start to die down (or at least that is what Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger has said).
This move will hopefully reduce some of the multi-million dollar failures that fans have seen on streaming services across the industry over recent years.
Spending Big on The Acolyte
According to a new report from Forbes, Disney has spent more on The Acolyte in pre-production than it did for the theatrically released Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
The Star Wars Disney+ series reportedly cost $49.2 million in just pre-production spending, which is $5.5 million more than Rogue One's pre-production budget ($43.7 million).
Compared to another Star Wars film, the studio only spent 17% more on pre-production costs for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which was deemed a surefire hit by Disney, coming off the mega-success of The Force Awakens.
The upcoming Skeleton Crew currently holds the record for the most expensive Star Wars streaming series with a reported budget of $136 million.
Another series in Andor had a pre-production budget that was quite a bit higher (38%) than The Acolyte's; however, much of that can likely be attributed to the project being shot during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and all the precautions that came with that.
While not yet revealed, this pre-production spend is a likely indicator that The Acolyte's overall budget will be massive.
Given the title's gargantuan pre-production number, it would not be all that surprising if the series came in right around Andor's $100 million dollar mark, or possibly even higher getting closer to the figure reportedly attached to Skeleton Crew.
What Happened to Disney Spending Less on Disney+?
Over the past few months, much has been made about Disney (and the rest of Hollywood) cutting costs after years of rampant spending on streaming content.
This has resulted in several titles being cut from Disney's service and Disney CEO Bob Iger making sweeping changes to the company's content strategy.
This biggest point from Iger's new plan has been an emphasis on quality over quantity and the company being "more judicious about how" it spends its money.
So one would think that would mean an end to this massive production budget for streaming series the studio just has not seen a return on.
Apparently not, at least not yet. Maybe names like Skeleton Crew and The Acolyte were too far along in the production pipeline for this budgetary chokehold to really impact them.
Both of these series have been in development for quite some time, and Iger only did just take over as Disney CEO in November 2022. So, perhaps that is why these upcoming Star Wars shows get to have the elevated budgetary figures they do.
The Acolyte has no official release date, but it is expected some time in 2024.
