Happy “Stars Wars” Day to all who celebrate! And, according to Nielsen data released this morning, that’s a lot of you.
And I mean a lot.
To celebrate May 4th, known in Star Wars circles as May the Fourth, the well-known data-keeper for all things TV published some pretty stunning data related to how viewers watch Star Wars in 2026. Obviously, it’s all through streaming now, specifically on Disney+, which owns the rights to the franchise.
Because of that, we can pretty easily get a gauge on what moves the needle, and, more importantly, what doesn’t.
For over a decade now, Disney has owned Star Wars. And, for over a decade now, fans have bashed them for ruining the beloved franchise. Ironically enough, this new data — all courtesy of Disney+ — paints a grim picture:
Not only are people not watching the three sequel movies — “The Force Awakens,” “The Last Jedi” and “The Rise of Skywalker” — people really aren’t even acknowledging their existence.
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Look at that graphic, courtesy of Nielsen. It’s jarring. We already knew it was bad, but I’m not sure we knew it was this bad.
Nielsen tracked the top 10 Star Wars movies fans streamed last May 4th, and the three new Disney installments didn’t even sniff the list. Now, to be fair, “Andor” was No. 1, and that’s obviously a Disney product.
But, there’s a big caveat: “Andor” was in the middle of its second and final season this time last year. So, naturally, it was going to do big numbers. Still, “Andor” has received universal praise from fans, old and new, which is something we’ll get into here in a bit.
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The main takeaway, though? We knew the sequel saga was a disaster. The last two movies were a train wreck, with “The Rise of Skywalker” being universally hated and a box office disaster in the Star Wars universe. Oddly enough, the three prequel movies all made the list fairly easily.
As someone who grew up during the prequel era, I love those movies. When they were released, however, fans were pretty lukewarm on them. I’d say they really weren’t truly appreciated until this latest batch of movies came out, mainly because folks realized how good we had it with George Lucas.
Here’s another hot take: “Revenge of the Sith” is the best Star Wars movie ever made. But, that’s a story for another time.
Anyway, back to the fancy graphics!
Star Wars fans agree on one thing
That one’s interesting, too. It’s also a major wake-up call for Disney in terms of the future of Star Wars. “Andor,” once again, resonates with a large portion of the fan base. Millennials and Gen X both streamed “Andor” more than anything else. That’s a huge chunk of the audience. Over 30 years of fandom!
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It’s now Disney’s job to figure out what they did right with “Andor,” and why it resonates with such a large chunk of Star Wars fans.
Better storytelling? Certainly.
Do fans used it as a bridge to the original saga? Probably. That’s sort of the point. It goes back to what Star Wars was, at its core, back in the day: the Rebellion vs. the Empire.
Perhaps a tonal shift back to that is the key?
I don’t know the answer. I’m a huge Star Wars fan, and the most recent three-movie arc was so beyond disappointing, it’s hard for me to get excited about anything related to the franchise anymore.
I’m also not alone. Disney is set to release it’s first theatrical Star Wars since “The Rise of Skywalker” later this month in “The Mandalorian and Grogu.” It’s a big deal for Disney as it looks to get out of this Star Wars funk they’ve been in for the better part of a decade.
Late last month, industry website Box Office Theory reported that the opening weekend box office prediction for the upcoming film based on pre-release ticket sales is just $71 million. In terms of Star Wars movies, that’s horrendous.
Even the opening weekend of “Solo,” which is considered one of the weaker films in the Disney era, would be about $110.5 million in today’s dollars, adjusted for inflation.
Not great!
Does Disney take this new data and use it? I doubt it. They’ve given us no reason to believe they will.
But it’s clear, and it confirms what we’ve all known for a while now: The Star Wars sequel films were an unmitigated disaster for Disney.
So much so, that folks now act like they don’t even exist.
Read the full article here