Report: The Mandalorian loses to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’s hype
By Mia Johnson
Since Disney+’s launch in November of 2019, we’ve known that the streamer was ready to put out hit after hit when it came to original content. It may be a slow-rolling train when it comes to the amount of original content we’ve gotten versus everything that’s been teased. But finally, we’re hitting a point where not only are we about to get multiple Star Wars series on Disney+, but multiple Marvel series as well.
And with that, The Mandalorian seems like it’s lost its crown (or helmet? Darksaber?) in a bittersweet end when it comes to the most-anticipated shows — because the next newcomer on Disney+ has taken it all.
On Thursday, ComicBook.com shared a report from TV Time that analyzed which shows fans were most anticipating. And when it came to 20 days prior to the release of The Mandalorian versus The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (starring Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan), the latter’s anticipation is way higher. They shared in the article:
"The viewer anticipation is hovering over 200% of what it was for the Star Wars show at a similar point from release."
Now, ComicBook doesn’t state just how “anticipation” is measured, seeing as this is more qualitative data than quantitative. And because of that, there’s no true way to measure anticipation (though I’m sure they did their best). But if you look at the chart shared in the original article, you’ll see anticipation for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is at over 35,000 units and The Mandalorian’s is at just over 25,000 units. The empirical data makes sense there, but what kind of context supports this evidence?
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: The best Disney+ series?
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One reason behind the results of this study could be that The Mandalorian was the first series of its kind to launch on Disney+. There was no precedent for this type of show. Not on Disney+. Not on other streaming platforms. And certainly not within the Star Wars universe.
Granted, even my expectations were low for the show before watching. But like many (I’m sure), those expectations were far surpassed when we saw just how high-quality this show was. Compare that to season 2, and we’re sure the anticipation would be even higher than season 1’s.
Second, with that in mind, the MCU has had consistent quality when it came to its movie universe. No movie in the MCU was ever as polarizing as any of the sequel movies. And as such, it probably meant that there’s been a lot of trust amongst fans that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier would be a great show, thus driving up the anticipation.
Plus, on top of all that, the series has both The Mandalorian and WandaVision to thank because together, those two give even more validity to how quality these new Disney+ spinoff series can be. This is all speculation, of course, and there could be a number of reasons that explain the report. But hats off to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier for getting so much buzz!
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Are you going to watch The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, or are you anticipating the next big Star Wars series on Disney+? Let us know in the comments!