The Book of Boba Fett launched to an opening that didn’t quite meet the same percentage of Disney+ subscribers tuning in as earlier Star Wars live action episodes. In fact, the first episode of Boba Fett just barely topped Hawkeye, a series that was known for lackluster viewership. Now, the same source that clued me in on The Book of Boba Fett having underwhelming views before anybody else knew is telling me that the third episode is a disaster… and the blame game internally has just begun.
Of course, all of this should be held as rumor at this point. Readers can look at my track record and make their own determination as to the likelihood of the information.
What I’m being told is that Episode 3 of The Book of Boba Fett has shed approximately 50% of the audience of the original episode, depending on how you quantify the viewership. The interesting thing is that my source says the episode may look pretty good on trackers like Samba TV because they check for at least five minutes of viewership in order to give credit for a show. However, the same source that was right about the original episode ratings is telling me that what is happening is that many people are actually tuning into The Book of Boba Fett and simply skipping straight to the speeder bike gang sections. What may be occurring is that people are watching certain parts of the episode, not out of interest in the show, but out of interest of the lack of quality.
You might scoff at the idea, but just look at the following quote from the stars of The Book of Boba Fett. And remember, when giving interviews, seasoned actors usually know how to manage public relations:
Asked about the bikers, Morrison replied, “Some of these things are out of our control. We can’t say as performers, ‘We don’t want to work with these people, that’s not good enough.’ … They brought a lot of color to it, I thought … they were great, were working hard.”
That looks to me like Morrison letting it slip that the speeder bike gang was known to not be “good enough”, followed by an attempted save.
Internally, I’m hearing from another source that The Book of Boba Fett is unlikely to improve in quality enough to save the series from this poor start. Not even a cameo is likely to do what the series is intended to achieve: increase subscriptions. As a result, a blame game has begun. I’m hearing chatter that there’s a camp of people trying to claim that this is all director Robert Rodriguez’ fault. According to some, Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni were not able to give The Book of Boba Fett full attention because they had to remap their plans for the Star Wars streaming and cinematic future after Gina Carano and her Rangers show were cancelled. Likewise, apparently Jon Favreau is getting pulled by Alan Bergman into a larger role within the company of helping guide both Star Wars and Marvel projects as a consultant in creative direction meetings. According to those putting the blame on Rodriguez, this allowed him to push The Book of Boba Fett in a silly, Spy Kids direction without someone to corral that back in a better lane.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRjlJWsVaAs
Was that the worst chase scene in the history of filmmaking?
However, it may be that the Kathleen Kennedy loyalists at Lucasfilm now have an opportunity to say that Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni are failing. Many at Lucasfilm would like nothing more than to blame all of this on a toxic fanbase and move full-speed ahead with High Republic type projects. Their ambition is to use Star Wars as a socio-transformational tool and then watch as people of less represented demographics fall in love with their material.
None of this is good for Bob Chapek’s desire to move straightforward into a better, more fan-centric position. But for now, this is a mess that may be too far gone to fix. Damage control time now could be to try to save Kenobi and Ahsoka.
For more on all the latest Star Wars and Disney rumors, keep coming back to That Park Place… and let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Not clear to me if Favreau and Filoni can blame Rodriguez when they were the ones who bought Rodriguez in. And when the project has been weak from the first episode. You want me to believe Rodriguez has been messing things up and Favreau/Filon are too busy to be paying attention?
I can’t believe anyone at Disney would green light a live action High Republic series. The Book Sales are atrocious (the NYT Best seller list actually has nothing to do with actual sales numbers.) Further, the view counts on Star Wars High Republic YouTube channel are pathetically low at only 20k to 30k.
To be fair no one cared about the Old Republic until KOTOR was released…….. if Lucasfilm is able to make a good live action High Republic series I am sure more people will start to care about that time period. Of course would these people be able to make that?
Sort of. KOTOR was the Old Republic. KOTOR didn’t save an idea. It was the good idea out of the gate that became a whole section of Star Wars lore. It also sold well on the reputation of Bioware. As a contrast I agree that no one involved in the High Republic seems to have a history of success. It is unlikely that will change. Especially since they seem to blame other people for their failures (fans, trolls, etc). You don’t get better by blaming other people for your failures.
Don’t forget Russian bots. Those Russian bots ruin everything
I’ll go out on a limb and suggest that the talent in charge of Star Wars is sidetracked with politics… I’m willing to bet there’s so much going on behind the scenes, between Filloni, Favreau and Kennedy, that they’re not able to pay as much attention to BOBF, as they were with Mandalorian. Kennedy and Disney, as a whole, has really mucked things up for Lucasfilm, and they’re probably dealing with the repercussions of everything that we can’t see.
I completely believe the source here. The audience reaction has been mixed with seemingly far more bad than good. I keep waiting for updated Samba numbers as they have in the past measured follow up episodes of previous D+ shows to my memory.
Just be knowledgeable that the Samba TV numbers may be inflated due to people rubbernecking. If we could have a minutes total it would be more fruitful in this situation, but that’s not in the cards.
Oh without a doubt. 5 Mins is not really a totally reliable metric. HOWEVER, what I do like about Samba (as I’ve discussed in my videos before) is that they are at least a relatively consistent data source using a consistent mathematical approach to extrapolate views from their monitored accounts. While it may not be accurate, it DOES provide a relatively good trend line within their own system. That is to say, if Samba tracks Loki at 2.5M views for it’s opening and Hawkeye at 1.5M, then even if their numbers are off, we can still say with relative confidence that based on the same parameters from the same source that Hawkeye significantly underperformed Loki. But this is the problem with streaming measurements. None of them are perfectly reliable unless the source (in this case Disney) releases all the data, which they likely never ever will.
Agreed. Once you understand the numbers, you can understand the meaning. I would not, however, be surprised if the numbers seem fantastic for those who lack the context for what is happening. If we see an influx for episode three, I would argue it’s not out of positive passion.
I don’t have many criticisms of Episode 3 of Boba Fett. And I think for Star Wars…some of the series are going to be out-and-out hits, and some not. Not all SW fans watched Clone Wars, for example. But it still aired…still put forth some great ideas and added to the Star Wars mythology. Just hope that Disney doesn’t make too many knee-jerk reactions, as it SEEMS (crossing-fingers) that Favreau is the great guide needed for Star Wars (working with Filoni for the details).
I gave episodes 1 & 2 a try, but neither felt like Star Wars or boba fett. Sand people lore was cool, but I couldn’t care less about the numerous flashbacks and the pacing was way too slow. None of Filoni’s previous work is like this… at all.
The reason KK failed was not just woke bs, she just does not know how to tell a good, coherent story. Someone at Lucasfilm should remember that.
I’d bet if the black pills out there woke up tomorrow morning with blaring head lines saying Kennedy has resigned and Disney has pulled the plug on the story group, only Leeland Chee remaining the black pills would discover that they’d have to watch the show. And explain then in an intellectually honest way why they hate it. If Disney announced they asked Carano back and she said no there would be another shiny object gone. It’s time for Disney to be public so fans can see the people who so viciously hurt the fandom and the franchise fired. And the big black pill channels would have nothing to talk about. And that would work in Chapeks favor. As for Favreau and Filoni I don’t think the Kennedy faction even matters anymore. I wouldn’t even mention them. It’s over for them.