Things are turning around for Disney, Jon Favreau, and all the folks making The Book of Boba Fett. Now can they do it with Boba Fett himself?
I’ve been monitoring a continuous lowering of internet searches for The Book of Boba Fett as the series has continued. The show had already started lower than expected with the first episode, barely beating Hawkeye — itself a lower-than-desired performing series. Now sure, this was spun in the press as a win, but beating one of your lower viewership mini-series can’t be great. So watching The Book of Boba Fett slowly diminish in online buzz over time was a bad sign for Disney+.
But my how one episode can change things…
Having kept an eye on how these episodes perform in driving interest for their seven days, I can tell you that the chart below is certainly different than in the past. The Book of Boba Fett episodes have typically driven searches at their launch, then driven about an equal number of searches the next evening in the United States, but they have trailed off quickly. That means there have been sharp peaks in interest and then sharp dives. For shows, that tends to indicate fans tuning in, but the average person not checking it out: i.e. the mainstream viewer isn’t tuning in.
Now does all this correlate directly to viewership? No. But it’s just one tool in determining how a show is doing in streaming. We don’t have something like box office numbers for streaming platforms — in the case of movies in theaters, we know exactly how they performed financially versus really close calls on their production costs. For streaming items, we have a bunch of different flawed means for gathering data. Even when it comes to services like Samba TV and Nielsen, they use measurements that aren’t fully representative of how a show is performing. To add to the difficulty, the value in a streaming show isn’t determined by purchases of the show… it’s determined by subscriber retention and increases. Even that is fuzzy for the platform companies themselves. There has long been criticism of ratings metrics, and streaming shows are far more difficult to judge.
I say all that to clarify I believe Google Trends is actually one of the very best tools available for figuring out the success of these media properties. It gives us insight into how much interest, buzz, anticipation, chatter, etc, is happening surrounding these entities whose sole function is to drive subscriptions.
The chart above shows something new for The Book of Boba Fett. Rather than seeing quick drop-offs, Episode 5 is resulting in sustained interest, as well as interest going into the following day (sizable as well). When combined with charts from prior episodes’ performances, Episode 5 is clearly the biggest episode for the series since Episode 1. It may have already eclipsed it. While I don’t have any rumors or potential leaks for this episode’s performance, it’s certainly changing other means of judging it as well — and all without featuring a single second of its lead actor and star. There’s no Boba Fett in this Boba Fett episode.
Currently this episode has a rating of 9.5/10 on IMDb pic.twitter.com/aZAtuN4HuE
— starrymm426 (@starrymm426) January 27, 2022
The Book of Boba Fett officially lands a "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.https://t.co/jDA8ehkzjh pic.twitter.com/y7TgkfBuKs
— CBR (@CBR) January 28, 2022
By every measure that we have, Episode 5 is a big win for Disney+, for Bryce Dallas Howard, and for Jon Favreau. It’s a big win for The Mandalorian as well, and may signal that the third season of that show is clear for takeoff even without Gina Carano. Then again, that might not be the case, and this may actually be the result of people being so shocked by this strange new episode. Still, if the reviews for something can be this stellar, it’s hard to imagine that anything would stop it from being successful. I’m talking about audience reviews, not critic reviews (which in the past few years have proven nearly worthless in determining the success of a property).
But now we have to wonder: can The Book of Boba Fett keep this up in its last two episodes? Can it stay away from the Vespa kids, totally throwing them away? Can the show continue to win with major cameos and fulfilled hooks? Can it do so without feeling like a retread of the Luke Skywalker reveal. It’s fine to have a huge moment like that, but people are going to want actual Luke Skywalker in the future, not just a cameo. Is that the same with a potential de-aging of Han Solo?
Whatever happens, Disney has to be pleased with the outcome for Episode 5. Jon Favreau has to be looking at its reception versus the reception of other episodes and saying, “This is the way.”
Let me know in the comments below if you agree or disagree. And keep checking out That Park Place for all the latest rumors, news, leaks, and leads for all things that should be fun.
This is only the second time I’ve commented, and I’m going to reference back to my first comment (huge fan of the site, btw).
Din Djarin IS the Boba Fett that fans dreamed of. Absolute badass with a sense of honour.
The Boba in this series isn’t even as interesting as the Boba that turned up in Mando season 2 (let alone Empire). This Boba has been written like a bit of a chump who keeps getting blindsided.
Episode 5 highlights the differences in the two clearly.
Episode 5 also reinforces the fact that, so far, BoBF seems wholly inconsequential to the larger story. It was 50 mins of Mandalorian plot advancement, and I was absolutely captivated.
As much as I love Fennick Shand, my first reaction when she turned up in the last minute was “don’t bore me with Boba’s crap. I want another 2 hours of Mando”.
That says a lot.
My final note is this: Favreau and Filoni need to give Bryce Dallas Howard her own series (or even a movie). She’s an amazing director who repeatedly stands out among Favreau’s very talented group of directors.
I agree with everything you’ve said, so long as BDH doesn’t bring in her agenda writing.
100% agree. Her agenda would easily burn through any goodwill.
But I will say this: she gets Star Wars better than most, and in Mandalorian they tasked her with episodes that introduced key female protagonists (Cara Dune in s1 and Bo-Katan in s2), hitting both out of the park.
That’s how it was written but episode 5 was indeed all about Boba Fett. The Mythosaur rises from Legends and Din Djarin is flying the ship of a Royal Guard.
I thank as another commenter posted insightfully…Din’s journey will grow because of Boba Fett setting his course. I think the powers that be want Din’s Mando to be “the Boba Fett we always wanted”. And they’ll paint the actual Boba as originator of it all. Less action, more dignified. Hopefully not too much. But that’s where I see it going. And Bryce Dallas Howard is certainly an agendist it seems when you read some things, but it “seems’ to not be rearing it’s head in her Star Wars work. Maybe the chance to be part of a huge property, the relationship with the directors/creators and reflection on her Father helps keep it in check?
The episode was FANTASTIC. I’ve already rewatched it multiple times. All the elements of classic SW was here – even the hot rods.
In my opinion, the problem with the BOBF is that they’ve made him a daimyo (a lord) right off the bat and Boba acts accordingly. We, the audience, wants to see him on his journey to become a daimyo, kicking butt while doing so. That is what we are seeing w Din Djarin. I predict that the Armorer’s reference to the myth issue was foreshadowing and the Din Djarin will run into one down in the living waters beneath the mines of Mandalore AND possibly (POSSIBLY) ride it . He got the dark saber AND he rides the mythosaur. What Mandalorian will refuse to accept him as the new Mand’alor? Din’s battles with the giant beasts, learning how to ride, Kuill’s jab at his inability to ride the blurry and the Armorer’s set up is perfect. IF this happens, it will be EPIC. Also would fit in with the James Cameron tributes in Mandalorian as well as BOBF. Remember Jake riding Toruk in Avatar? Din Djarin riding the mythosaur, supposedly extinct, would be beyond awesome. It would rival the appearance of Luke.