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The Mandalorian and Grogu continues to struggle at the box office, but its worldwide total has at least passed that of one of Disney’s most notorious genre flops. Star Wars‘ return to theaters after seven years hasn’t exactly been a smash hit. As it stands, The Mandalorian and Grogu‘s box office sits at $294 million worldwide after three weekends, with it almost certainly going to end its run as the lowest-grossing film in the franchise (which is currently held by Solo, with $393m). $155m of that is at the domestic box office, which means it could also become the first Star Wars movie to fail to hit $200m in the U.S.
Still, it isn’t all bad news. In terms of the Disney+ to theatrical pipeline, it’s at least done considerably better than The Marvels, which pulled in just $206m and is the lowest-grossing MCU movie. And as it nears the $300m milestone, it has also overtaken Disney’s John Carter ($284m). The 2012 Sci-Fi movie, based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ seminal novel A Princess of Mars, should’ve been a franchise-launcher for the Mouse House, but proved dead-on-arrival after negative reviews and its large cost (with a budget north of $250m). So, at least there’s that for The Mandalorian and Grogu!
What The Mandalorian & Grogu’s Box Office Means For The Future
At first blush, The Mandalorian and Grogu‘s box office is a disaster for Lucasfilm and Disney. It certainly has not performed well, and the numbers have several franchise detractors all too willing to declare that Star Wars is dead. It’d take some serious spin and creative accounting to dress this up as the kind of hit that the saga has been accustomed to (Solo aside), but it is also not a death-knell ringing out across a galaxy far, far away.
There are several mitigating factors that mean the performance will probably end up being fine enough at Disney. The budget for the movie was relatively modest, at around $166 million before tax credits, with another $130m or so estimated to have been spent on marketing. Then there’s the film’s commercial tie-ins with the likes of Burger King, Volkswagen and more [via Deadline], before getting into VoD, streaming, and most crucially, merchandise revenue, with Grogu already established as a key part of Star Wars’ billion-dollar merch empire, and likely to become even more lucrative.
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So, yeah, things will be ok, even if it’s not the grand return many would’ve hoped for. There’s already talk of The Mandalorian and Grogu 2, or perhaps The Mandalorian Season 4, with actor Brendan Wayne saying he expects to return. In terms of what’s next for the franchise in theaters, 2027 brings Star Wars: Starfighter, which stars Ryan Gosling. It already sounds like more of an event film than this proved to be, and with the 50th anniversary celebrations in full swing (led by a theatrical re-release of the original movie), could deliver the hit that means Star Wars is back.
The Mandalorian and Grogu is currently playing in theaters. Star Wars: Starfighter releases on May 27th, 2027.
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