Star Wars strikes back with $102-million projected for ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’

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The latest Star Wars film, “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” is a hit with audiences, earning an expected $102 million in the U.S. and Canada over the Memorial Day weekend. This marks a successful return for the franchise after being absent from theaters for almost seven years.

The new movie, a follow-up to the popular Disney+ show “The Mandalorian” which first aired in 2019, performed as expected during its opening weekend. It was projected to earn $165 million worldwide over the four-day holiday weekend.

Jon Favreau’s “The Mandalorian and Grogu” had a very strong opening weekend, earning $82 million in domestic ticket sales. This makes it the third-highest grossing film opening of the year so far, according to Comscore.

These findings are probably welcome news for Lucasfilm, which is owned by Walt Disney and hasn’t released a Star Wars movie since 2019’s “Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker.”

Since then, the studio in San Francisco has mainly worked on its Star Wars shows for streaming, including both live-action and animated series. While some of these shows received varied reactions, “The Mandalorian” and the “Rogue One” spin-off “Andor” were particularly successful, earning praise from both critics and fans.

How well “The Mandalorian and Grogu” does at the box office will be one sign of whether the movie is a hit.

As a huge Star Wars fan, I’m really seeing how much Disney is hoping this new movie will help everything else they’re doing. It’s not just about the box office; they want more people tuning into the Star Wars shows on Disney+, playing the Star Wars stuff in Fortnite, and, of course, visiting the theme parks. They’ve even updated the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run ride at both Disneyland and Disney World to tie into ‘The Mandalorian’ and Grogu, which is a really cool touch! It’s a full-on push to get everyone excited about the whole Star Wars universe.

Strong ticket sales over the weekend prove that Star Wars is still incredibly popular. It continues to be one of Disney’s biggest franchises, generating over $1 billion in retail sales each year.

Review

‘Star Wars’ wends its way back to theaters via an unlikely duo in ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’

Jon Favreau, the creator of the popular streaming series, successfully brings it to the big screen with a fun, though not crucial, summer blockbuster packed with the creatures fans want to see.

The film’s reception was crucial for maintaining excitement about the Star Wars franchise, especially with Disney planning celebrations for the 50th anniversary and a new movie with Ryan Gosling scheduled for release next year.

For the first time, a Star Wars story – “The Mandalorian and Grogu” – was filmed completely within Los Angeles.

Favreau mentioned during the film’s premiere last week that they received a tax break from California to film there.

Entertainment & Arts

For decades, movies and TV shows have frequently featured fast-food chains, and this trend continues today. Recent examples include a purple sauce created for a show called ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ and blue milkshakes made for ‘Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu.’

“The Mandalorian and Grogu” easily topped the box office over Memorial Day weekend because no major competing movies were released. Other studios didn’t offer any new potential hits at the same time.

The movie “Obsession,” released by Focus Films, earned $22.4 million over the weekend, making it the second highest-grossing film, according to Comscore.

The Michael Jackson documentary, “Michael,” continued its success, earning another $20 million and pushing its total earnings to $314 million. Meanwhile, “The Devil Wears Prada:2” landed in fourth place with $12.6 million, bringing its total since its release earlier this month to $196 million.

Amazon’s MGM studio’s “The Sheep Detectives” rounded out the top five with nearly $9 million.

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2026-05-24 20:31