It’s More Than Review-Bombing: ‘The Acolyte’ Sees 31% Drop in “Minutes Watched” After Episode 4

‘Star Wars: The Acolyte’ premiered three weeks ago and was already controversial due to its premise and statements from cast members and creators. After its debut, the show became a textbook case of both review-bombing and review-boosting, with critics giving it unusually high scores while fans gave it unusually low ones.

Currently, the show holds an 85% critics score and a 14% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. However, the streaming numbers are now beginning to reflect the fans’ dissatisfaction with the show.

Shortly after its premiere, Disney proudly announced that the show had been streamed 11 million times in its first five days, though this was significantly lower than the 14 million streams for ‘Ahsoka.’ Following the highly controversial Episode 3, the show was watched for an estimated 380.5 million minutes, making it the 6th most-streamed TV show for the week of June 7th-June 13th, according to Variety’s Luminate data.

However, after the release of Episode 4, which was even more controversial due to canon-breaking elements, the show saw a 31% drop in “minutes streamed.”

As estimated, ‘The Acolyte’ was streamed for 262 million minutes over the past week (June 14-June 20), marking a 31% decrease. The show, which previously held the sixth spot among the most-watched shows, has now dropped to the seventh position.

The biggest winner of the week was ‘Bridgerton,’ which saw a remarkable 419% boost. So, what’s happening here?

If the streaming numbers for ‘The Acolyte’ continue to decline, it’s a significant indication that a substantial portion of fans are unhappy with what Disney is offering. While some might argue that fans are avoiding the show because it’s perceived as “woke” (though it’s not excessively so), it’s more likely that fans are upset by recent changes the show has introduced to the canon.

Episode 4 introduced Ki-Adi-Mundi from ‘The Phantom Menace,’ even though the character shouldn’t be alive during ‘The Acolyte,’ which is set 100 years before the movie. Additionally, a Sith Lord is introduced in the final moments of Episode 4, with Jedi openly confronting him. The irony is that in ‘The Phantom Menace,’ Mundi’s character stated, “The Sith have been extinct for nearly a millennia,” seemingly overlooking this encounter.

With four episodes still to come, there’s a chance the show will clarify some of these confusing elements. Until then, it’s too early to determine if ‘The Acolyte’ is a flop.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below!