Disney’s reported budget for the first two seasons of Andor ballooned to over half a billion dollars amid diminishing returns.
In an era where streaming platforms are vying for viewer attention with ever-expanding libraries, Disney’s Star Wars series Andor stands out—not for its storytelling, but for its astronomical budget. With costs soaring to a staggering $645 million (£504.8 million), Andor exemplifies what many critics are calling “ridiculous bloat” for a streaming show whose viewership metrics don’t justify such expenditures.
Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) in Lucasfilm’s ANDOR, exclusively on Disney+. ©.
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Disney has disclosed that Andor’s second season alone cost a record-breaking $290.9 million (£232.1 million), marking the highest-ever annual spending on a Star Wars production. To put this into perspective, this figure eclipses the $280.7 million (£211.8 million) spent on Star Wars: The Last Jedi over an almost 11-month period and significantly surpasses the $243.8 million (£193.6 million) allocated to The Force Awakens during its production cycle.
The second season’s budget is expected to climb even higher. Filming, which commenced in November 2022, faced interruptions due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, prolonging the shoot and inflating costs further. Principal photography wrapped in February, but post-production—a year-long process laden with expensive visual effects—continues to drain resources.
Andor boasts less-than-impressive viewership numbers, with its finale amassing 674 million minutes watched on Disney Plus. These figures pale in comparison when scrutinized against its budget.
(L-R): The Stranger and Osha Aniseya (Amandla Stenberg) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, season one, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
This is certainly not a new problem for Disney Lucasfilm.
The Acolyte, another Star Wars spinoff, had a budget exceeding $230 million according to UK tax filings. Despite this hefty investment, The Acolyte struggled with viewership, garnering over 50% fewer minutes watched than Andor. This directly led to the cancellation of its second season.
This stark contrast raises critical questions about Disney’s return on investment. The high costs of shows like Andor and The Acolyte are hard to justify. Especially when both failed to captivate a sizable audience. The disparity suggests that Disney may be prioritizing high production values over sustainable viewership growth.
Mon Mothma in Andor – YouTube, Star Wars
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Andor is set five years before the original Star Wars trilogy and is lauded for its grounded storytelling and extensive use of practical effects and physical sets. While these elements undoubtedly enhance the viewing experience, they also contribute to the bloated budget. The commitment to quality is almost commendable, if somewhat misguided. But when paired with viewership figures that don’t proportionally match the investment, it becomes a precarious strategy that Disney will eventually have to justify to its investors.
Moreover, the high costs associated with filming in the United Kingdom, where productions are subject to stringent financial disclosures and benefit from government reimbursements, add another layer to the financial strain. Disney’s forced transparency in UK-based productions reveals the true extent of Andor’s expenditures. That’s a practice not commonly seen with US streaming shows where budgets are typically concealed within broader financial statements.
LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 07: Kathleen Kennedy attends the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 attends the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London at ExCel on April 07, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Disney)
The relentless spending on Andor comes at a time when Disney+ is navigating a fiercely competitive streaming market. With numerous platforms vying for subscriber loyalty, the sustainability of such high-budget productions is questionable. While Andor’s first season received critical acclaim, boasting an 87% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes—the highest among Star Wars shows—it remains to be seen if the second season can maintain its momentum without further ballooning costs.
In contrast, The Acolyte serves as a cautionary tale. Despite a substantial budget, its inability to attract a robust audience led to its premature cancellation. If Andor continues on a similar financial trajectory without a corresponding increase in viewership, Disney risks facing the same fate.
Will you watch Andor season two? What do you make of Disney’s insane Andor budget? Sound off in the comments and let us know!
I Hope It goes to paying the common workers, but yeah it probably getting stolen by activist and Higher Up assholes
Marxists never give a thought to the proletariat once they gain power.
Andor is superb & nearly every penny is on screen.
FFS dude.
Gaslighting
Star Wars is garbage.
Disney Star Wars is garbage. The original trilogy was good.
And it was still boring garbage, which was not Star Wars.
You have bad taste.
Plus I can tell you didn’t make it thru the first 2 eps (which are admittedly boring. FF thru all the native american crap in those.)
Andor is superb.
I know no one who’s seen it all who doesn’t like it (however slightly off from Star Wars it might be.) It’s a great Sci Fi show, and every damn penny is onscreen. It’s Andy Serkis 2nd best role after Gollum as well.
Keep consuming Disney slop. Funny how you didn’t address the fact that it wasn’t Star Wars.
Same place all that Acolyte money went; right into the pockets of the producers and on-set activist consultants. I can accept that re-shoots took a big chunk of change, but these numbers just don’t add up when you get a good look at the costumes, sets, CGI, and the props and how poor quality they all are.
Actually, I believe that poor quality is exactly why the money’s gone. The absolute idiots in charge hired unqualified Didn’t Earn It hires who blew all the money trying to learn things they should have already known how to do. How much physical waste did the show produce trying to create the costumes, sets, and props? How many man hours were wasted on computers before they released the CGI we did see?
I could be wrong and what we saw were those absolute idiots in charge hiring the cheapest people they could while pocketing the rest. But it would be even more humiliating if my theory is even half-true.
You clearly have not seen the show.
It’s the best Disney Star Wars by a light year.
Tony Gilroy (Bourne Identity, Rogue One) is damn good at his job, and Andor is a damn good show.
Caveats:
1. FF thru anything “native american.” speeds up the 2 slow eps.
2. It’s not exactly Star Wars. It’s damn good though.
“The disparity suggests that Disney may be prioritizing high production values over sustainable viewership growth.”
That makes no sense to me. But I’m using common sense and simple logic so the decisions of management in general confuses the hell out of me, woke or not.
Just a stab in the dark, but I feel most of this bloat is the sheer volume of excess middle management that’s been hired over the Brandon’s tenure that’s led to this bloat. These studios is where the garbage of the past decade of academia pushing the lesser-than’s into positions that are way above their feeble mental capabilities. I mean, kathleen kennedy is patient zero as why to never again place responsibility with a, her, again. Never.
I’m sure the money’ going to bob iger’s Iron Man style retirement house in Malibu. Scumbag.
This is a dumb discussion.
YOu’re talking about Andor as if it was Ahsoka.
It is no such thing.
Have any of you people even SEEN Andor?
I’ll tell you where that money went:
UP ON SCREEN.
Apparently there was only 2.5 minutes left on the cutting room floor after season 1. The Gilroy brothers are consumate pros & excellent writers. Andor is a great show if not exactly full Star Wars.
You’re just reflexively bitching. This is not the crap SW you’re looking for.
(BTW if you haven’t seen Andor feel free to FF thru anything that feels tribal/native american in the first 2 eps. That’s the show’s only real weakness. Otherwise FFFFing excellent.)
Nice cope. Your show sucks.
So… A show set up in Star Wars, the biggest selling point by far, and your excuse is… it’s not exactly full Star Wars. It would not have even tenth of the viewership it has if it would been a standalone TV show, not connected to one of the largest and most popular IP in cinematography.
I saw it. It was garbage. Not on the level of Ahsoka, gosh no. But on the level of typical TV serial garbage bloat to pad the pockets. It is as forgettable as boring.
And the Gilroy brothers… ehm. They are not good writers. Nor editors, nor directors. They are just cheaper than the competition and submissive; they do anything and everything Disney bosses says them to do. Their “work” speaks for itself, weak product after weak product. They will never stand on the same level as Tarantino, Spielberg, damn, even Michael Bay… and directors on level of Kubrick is so far above them they are not even able to see them.
New way for Blackrock`s money laundry. Ukraine is not enough…