After nearly seven years away from movie theaters, Star Wars finally returned to the big screen over Memorial Day weekend with The Mandalorian and Grogu. A continuation of the hit streaming series The Mandalorian, Lucasfilm was banking on the popularity of the two titular characters to carry the film to box office success. The results on that front are a little mixed. Arriving with relatively muted fanfare (for a Star Wars film, at least), The Mandalorian and Grogu posted the lowest opening for a Disney-era Star Wars movie, but the efficient production budget made that figure tenable. The hope was The Mandalorian and Grogu could post a decent hold in its second week, but that did not happen at all.
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According to Deadline, new horror movie Backrooms won the weekend, posting an estimated $81.4 million domestically in its debut (a new record for distributor A24). Backrooms wasn’t the only horror title that fared well; Obsession grossed $26.4 million in its third weekend to claim second place, narrowly edging out The Mandalorian and Grogu. The Star Wars film is projected to have earned $25 million domestically in its second weekend, which is a 69% drop from its debut. To date, it’s earned $137.3 million in the United States, and $246.6 million worldwide.
What Happened to The Mandalorian and Grogu In Its Second Weekend?
The Mandalorian and Grogu was never going to be one of the highest-grossing Star Wars movies of all time, but there were signs suggesting that it could have been set up for a robust theatrical run. While professional reviews were mixed, audience reactions appeared to be far more positive, indicating there was positive word of mouth amongst the fans. Additionally, The Mandalorian and Grogu wasn’t facing any direct competition from other big-budget genre films, with Masters of the Universe still a week away. Heading into the weekend, the expectation was that it would be a close call between Backrooms and Mandalorian, with both projected to gross in the neighborhood of $40 million.
Instead, The Mandalorian and Grogu severely underperformed in its second weekend with a significant drop-off. Ironically, word of mouth is arguably the most likely reason why. Those who have seen The Mandalorian and Grogu feel it’s a fun, pulpy space adventure bolstered by cute Grogu moments, but it wasn’t considered a must-see on the big screen due to its thin story and character arcs. That had an impact on general audiences; obviously, Backrooms and Obsession have very different target audiences than The Mandalorian and Grogu, but films need to appeal beyond their key demographic in order to take over the box office. Backrooms and Obsession have much higher Rotten Tomatoes scores (89% and 96%, respectively) and have been hailed as announcements of new, creative filmmaking voices. That goes a long way in selling casual moviegoers on seeing them in theaters.
Something else to consider is that for the better part of this decade, Star Wars has been a streaming franchise. During the movie hiatus, a bevy of live-action TV series were produced for Disney+, filling the void. Audiences became accustomed to seeing “new Star Wars” at home. Notably, The Mandalorian was Disney’s flagship streaming program. There could be people who are interested in watching The Mandalorian and Grogu but are opting to wait until it’s on streaming. This is similar to the Pixar problem Disney has been dealing with post-pandemic; after releasing a few Pixar films straight to Disney+, the animation studio’s box office track record isn’t as sterling as it was in the 2000s and 2010s.
For Backrooms and Obsession, toppling a Star Wars movie at the box office is an incredible accomplishment. For nearly 50 years, Star Wars has been one of the premier Hollywood franchises, so its big return to theaters being beaten by a pair of indie horror films is another sign that commercial trends could be shifting in a different direction. Throughout the year, moviegoers have demonstrated that they are still willing to see things in theaters (even with shorter theatrical windows and streaming services), but they’re a little more selective about what they go out in full force to see. The Mandalorian and Grogu shouldn’t be a box office bomb, but Lucasfilm was almost definitely hoping for a stronger turnout. It puts a lot of pressure on next year’s Star Wars: Starfighter to be the big 50th anniversary celebration.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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Forum Conversation: Mando and Grogu Box Office – What Happened?
Go to ForumYeah, very much so. Certainly nothing that would seem to make any sense for Star Wars – even before TM&G, it felt like IF we were to get a Mandoverse crossover it’d be more likely on Disney+ (and probably just wrapped up in Ahsoka). Marvel… again, not much that would make sense. If they were to do a Midnight Sons movie then that might have elements of it, but it’d also have some big names that moviegoers know as well like Blade.
Agree on Starfighter. If that underperforms, I’ll accept that Star Wars is in a really bad place and has huge questions about its future, because it definitely screams being more of an “event” and has a lot going for it, no obvious excuses like Mando has.
I wonder if the streaming-to-theatrical model is over now, especially with Disney shifting back to prioritizing features. Doesn’t seem like that worked all that well.
I can easily see Starfighter being a much bigger draw since it’ll be a standalone thing and they’ll have Gosling doing his whole thing on the press tour. Really, really smart move to cast him. I know Star Wars has avoided typical A-listers in the past, but it felt necessary here. Gosling and Amy Adams promoting a Star Wars movie.
I just hope Disney doesn’t learn the wrong lesson here. I can already picture executives running wild and screaming, “Resurrect Luke! Bring Palpatine back!”