The Mandalorian and Grogu brings Star Wars back to the big screen after seven years. It’s taken Lucasfilm a while to decide how to return to theaters after the end of the sequel trilogy, and it will do under new leadership; president Kathleen Kennedy recently stepped down, with Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan stepping in as new co-presidents. The Mandalorian was easily the most successful Star Wars TV show of the Disney+ era, and Pedro Pascal’s Din Djarin and his ward Grogu are leading the charge.
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Lucasfilm has continued promoting The Mandalorian and Grogu at this year’s Super Bowl, with an exclusive new TV spot. Surprisingly, Lucasfilm has chosen to release something a lot more humorous rather than a full trailer, narrated by Sam Elliott.
Disney’s Disney’s executive VP of creative marketing Jackson George explained the TV spot to Variety:
“Grogu is more than a character; he’s a pop culture phenomenon. Riding alongside the heroic Mandalorian, he brings lightness, humor, joy, and an instant emotional connection that transcends the moment. This Big Game spot celebrates how deeply we love and connect with these characters, reminds us of the fun, heart, and spectacle that defines ‘Star Wars,’ and offers a bite-sized promise of the experience audiences will get when they see these two beloved icons on the big screen.”
The Mandalorian and Grogu’s Marketing Hasn’t Exactly Impressed Fans
The first trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu released in September, and it didn’t land well, receiving just 11 million views in four months on YouTube. To give a comparison, the first trailer for Masters of the Universe released a fortnight ago, and – at time of writing – has 36 million views. The general assumption had been that Lucasfilm would use Super Bowl to drop a new trailer that reached mass audiences, but it seems the studio has chosen a different way to market the film. The narration makes this particular Super Bowl spot feel rather more like a parody than anything else.
So far, there hasn’t really been a concrete “hook” for The Mandalorian and Grogu. Lucasfilm’s central push appears to be focused on a simple message; “You’ve watched them on Disney+, you’ve bought the merch, now watch the movie.” The clear assumption is that Grogu in particular is too popular a character for his debut movie to fail, and it really does feel as though Lucasfilm is actively choosing not to push the film too significantly.
The fandom had anticipated a strategy akin to Solo: A Star Wars Story, where a 30-second trailer dropped at Super Bowl followed by a full trailer the next morning on Good Morning America. Given Solo‘s poor performance was generally blamed on marketing, even that was concerning. The reality is even stranger. It’s true The Mandalorian and Grogu doesn’t need to be a blockbuster hit to make a profit; it’s the cheapest Star Wars film to date, with a reported budget of just $166.4 million, which means it should safely break even no matter how it performs. But this is the first Star Wars film since 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker, and you’d expect more.
We can only hope that Lucasfilm will soon release another full trailer, one that has a stronger hook and that grips audiences. There were already strong concerns about The Mandalorian and Grogu, but this odd Super Bowl TV spot is sure to reinforce them. This is not the Way.
What do you think of The Mandalorian and Grogu‘s TV spot? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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Official art by Bastien Lecouffe-Deharme -
Image courtesy of Tor Books/Macmillan -
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Courtesy of TOHO Animation
