- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
Disney has revealed that the cost of making Star Wars streaming show Andor has surged to $645 million (£504.8 million) after it spent a record $290.9 million (£232.1 million) last year on filming its second season which will debut in April 2025.
It is the highest-ever annual spending on a Star Wars production disclosed in Disney’s public filings. The staggering sum eclipses the $280.7 million (£211.8 million) spent on Star Wars: The Last Jedi over the almost 11 month period to March 16, 2019. Likewise, it is higher than the $243.8 million (£193.6 million) cost of The Force Awakens, Disney’s debut entry in the sci-fi saga, during the year-ending November 15, 2016.
…
Remarkably, the cost of Andor’s second season is set to soar even higher as the $290.9 million was spent during the year to November 22, 2023 which doesn’t even cover all of the shoot. Filming began in November 2022 but was suspended in summer 2023 due to the SAG-AFTRA strike. It resumed in January this year and wrapped the following month though this was far from the end of the story.
With streaming shows, they’ll have various metrics to judge it’s worth. However, Andor has pretty low viewing figures and, while the steel books have sold like hot cakes, it is thought that there might not have been a series 2 if they hadn’t signed up to a full 24 episodes from the start. However, the overwhelming good press for a Star Wars film or TV series has to also be worth something to them when everything else has landed awkwardly or even badly.