The Acolyte could find yourself being the costliest Star Wars tv sequence but, as a brand new report signifies that Lucasfilm spent over $49 million on the sequence earlier than filming even started.
According to Forbes, the invoice for the sequence’ pre-production funds has apparently are available in at $49.2 million, because of authorized paperwork tied to spending on tv sequence which might be filmed within the United Kingdom. This doesn’t, nonetheless, make it the costliest pre-production spend for a brand new Star Wars sequence. Andor reportedly spent almost $67.9 million on pre-production prices, with the caveat that the funds was inflated resulting from filming throughout the time of COVID-19 and having subsequent security protocols inflating the funds. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the whole funds of that sequence ended up round $250M, although keep in mind that it was a 12-episode first season, whereas The Acolyte has an eight-episode run.
Given experiences that Lucasfilm’s manufacturing crew are likely to aggressively spend cash on their main tasks, sizable budgets on Star Wars tasks being spent earlier than day one in every of filming shouldn’t be very shocking. For body of reference, the pre-production invoice on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story reportedly got here in at $44.7 million, simply $5.5 million lower than The Acolyte. Granted, it’s not an apples-to-apples comparability between a present and a movie, however that signifies that the Disney Plus sequence may very well be one of many costlier undertakings that Lucasfilm has engaged in since increasing the Star Wars franchise’s live-action aspirations to the small display screen. Meanwhile, The Last Jedi had a pre-production funds of about $57.6 million.
The Acolyte is about towards the top of the interval in Star Wars historical past often called the High Republic period, which is about anyplace from a number of many years to a number of centuries earlier than the occasions of the prequel trilogy, The Clone Wars, and associated works, with showrunner Leslye Headland indicating that the sequence is about about 100 years earlier than the occasions of The Phantom Menace. The sequence is the primary live-action mission set within the period, with the Disney Junior sequence Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures (which can also be streaming on Disney Plus) being the primary animated mission.
The sequence is about to premiere solely on Disney Plus someday subsequent yr. The Forbes article makes point out of hypothesis that Keanu Reeves could have a cameo within the sequence, however at the moment, this needs to be taken as a wild rumor and never reality. After Star Wars News Net reached out, Lucasfilm didn’t touch upon Reeves’ involvement.
Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for so long as he can keep in mind, having seen each film on the large display screen. When he’s not exhausting at work along with his school research, he retains himself busy by reporting on every kind of Star Wars information for SWNN and common film information on the sister web site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.
