“The Mandalorian & Grogu” is off to a, what you might call, modest but closely watched start at the North American box office, earning about $11-$12M in Thursday night previews after screenings began early at 2 p.m.
That figure trails the $14.1M preview haul of “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” which ultimately opened to $84M over three days and $103M over the four-day Memorial Day frame — numbers considered disappointing for the franchise at the time.
This aligns with $80M 3-day tracking I had mentioned a few weeks ago. It would not be a good performance for a Star Wars movie, an IP that used to tower in Hollywood.
Disney and Lucasfilm previously reached far greater heights with “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” which once held the domestic opening weekend record at $247.9M, as well as “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” which debuted to $155M domestically. ‘Mandalorian and Grogu’ will not come close to that.
Current projections suggest The Mandalorian & Grogu could still reach between $80M-$100M across the four-day Memorial Day weekend. Directed by Jon Favreau, the film is playing in 4300 theaters.
Reaction to the film has been mixed. Critics, are giving the film a 61% “fresh” rating compared to Solo’s 69%.
Mandalorian and Grogu’ is the first Star Wars movie since 2019—an IP Disney has been eager to revive in theaters, especially after the mixed reception of the last trilogy. Still, was turning one of their Disney+ series into a full-blown theatrical feature really the best way to do it?