Fans have been divided over the most recent Disney+ show, The Acolyte. Now that we know the budget for the series, how will it impact viewer opinions?
Each Episode of The Acolyte has been estimated to cost almost triple the budget of Godzilla Minus One. Let’s break down the numbers here to see if that is true and what it means for Star Wars and its fans.
Budget of The Acolyte
As the latest Disney+ Star Wars program, The Acolyte’s total budget is estimated at $180 million for a season with 8 30-minute episodes. That total breaks down to about $22.5 million per episode. That seems like a budget for a full-length movie.
As this discussion thread indicated, Dune Part 2’s budget was $190 million.
How does the budget for the Acolyte compare with that of other Star Wars series? It will be the second most expensive Star Wars series to date.
The First Season of Andor took the top spot at $250 million, but it had 12 longer episodes. So, per episode, The Acolyte is more expensive.
Other Star Wars shows have been costly too. Season 1 of The Mandalorian is reported to have cost $120,000, not as high as The Acolyte but still a high budget for the small screen.
One reason for the higher budget is location–both the Acolyte and Andor were filmed in the UK, while The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, The Book of Boba Fett, and Obi-Wan Kenobi were all done in California.
About $50 million of the Acolyte’s budget was allocated to pre-production, with just over $130 million for production and post-production. These figures place the budget for the Acolyte many times over that of Godzilla Minus One.
Budget of Godzilla Minus One
When Godzilla Minus One won the Academy Award for Visual Effects, the movie’s estimated $15 million total budget prompted praise and discussion.
Not only was this the first Godzilla film to win such an award, but its budget was far below previous winners in this Oscar category.
Usually, the budgets for visually driven movies that won the Award are about four times.
In 2022, Avatar: The Way of the Water had a budget between $350 and $400 million, while in 2021, Dune came in at $165 million.
One way that Godzilla Minus One trimmed these costs was by using a group of only 35 artists and a total of 610 visual effects shots.
How does this Godzilla movie compare with others before it? It is a money saver.
The Godzilla movie from 2014 cost $160 million, Godzilla: King of Monsters from 2019 cost $170 to $200 million, and the 2021 Godzilla vs. Kong was between $155 and $200 million.
The Minus One film’s budget is quite small in comparison.
As for The Acolyte, each episode of that show costs 1.5 times more than the budget of Godzilla Minus One: $22.5 million versus $15 million. Not triple or double, but still quite high.
Yet, the total budget of The Acolyte is 12 times as much as the budget for Godzilla.
This divergence may not sit well with all fans.
The Acolyte and Fans
How will the high Acolyte budget impact fan opinions of the show and Star Wars? Posts on this discussion reveal a mix of fans who appreciate The Acolyte, those who find it lacking compared to Godzilla Minus One, and those who think it’s a waste of money.
Time will tell if more fans will reject the program because of its budget.
Star Wars fans have already disagreed over the show’s writing, choice of actors, and storyline. It seems now the budget could stir up more division.
Yet, Star Wars is sure to live on, with Disney preparing to release The Skeleton Crew late this year and Season 2 of Andor early next.
Todd Wahlstrom is a creative and analytical freelance writer and life-long Star Wars fan. He has covered such topics as Darth Vader, the Jedi, Boba Fett, and AT-AT Walkers. Todd has published a non-fiction book, holds a Ph.D. in history, and enjoys hiking, running, and reading about science.