The Mandalorian and Grogu is not exactly breaking the internet with its box office numbers 🤣. According to Deadline, the film earned a whopping $12 million from Thursday night previews ahead of its official opening day in theaters on Friday, May 22. I mean, who doesn’t love a good underwhelming experience at the movies? 🍿
While $12 million is not nothing, it’s also not exactly the kind of number that makes you go “wow, this movie is going to be a blockbuster” 🤔. In fact, it’s behind the previous lowest-grossing movie in Star Wars history, 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story. Yeah, that’s right, folks, The Mandalorian and Grogu is already being compared to the Star Wars equivalent of a participate trophy 🏆.
Solo, a prequel about the young Han Solo starring Alden Ehrenreich, grossed $14.1 million in Thursday previews. It went on to earn $103 million over its opening weekend, and eventually took in about $393 million in theaters — the lowest total for any live-action Star Wars movie to date. But hey, who needs a high-grossing movie when you have Baby Yoda, right? 🐶
It should go without saying that if The Mandalorian and Grogu fails to beat even those low numbers, that would not be a positive outcome for Lucasfilm and Disney 😳. I mean, can you imagine the meetings they’re having right now? “Uh, guys, I think we might have a problem… our movie is not doing as well as we thought it would” 🤦♂️.
Lucasfilm is probably having a bit of a panic right now, but hey, at least they have a cute picture of Baby Yoda to look at 📸. And who knows, maybe The Mandalorian and Grogu will surprise us all and become a huge hit 🤞. But until then, let’s just enjoy the fact that it’s not doing as well as expected 😂.
If those numbers are even close to being accurate, and The Mandalorian and Grogu earns the exact same amount in theaters as Solo did, then the news is not quite as disastrous as it appears 🙅♂️. Because, let’s be real, it cost far less to produce (and, thanks to Baby Yoda, will surely reap far higher merchandising profits than Solo did) 📈.
Nonetheless, if the final box office numbers for The Mandalorian and Grogu emerge, and it winds up becoming the lowest-grossing Star Wars ever, that’s a disaster 🌪️. Especially since Solo appeared in theaters during a stretch when multiplexes were regularly filled with new Star Wars movies, while The Mandalorian and Grogu is the first Star Wars back on the big screen in seven years 🕰️.
Theoretically, there should be pent-up demand for this movie 🤔. If there isn’t… that’s not a great sign for the future of the franchise on the big screen 📉. (The fact that The Mandalorian and Grogu is spun off from a small screen series, is a detail worth noting and likely a huge contributing factor in its tepid box-office performance 📺).
The Mandalorian and Grogu is now playing in theaters everywhere 🎥. Regardless of its final grosses, there is at least one more Star Wars movie headed to theaters 🚀. Shawn Levy’s Star Wars: Starfighter already has a release date set for one year from now, in late May of 2027 📆. So, Star Wars fans, don’t worry, there’s still hope for the future of the franchise 🙏.
And if you’re feeling nostalgic, you can always check out 10 Iconic Movies That Almost Had Completely Different Titles 🎬. Because, who doesn’t love a good “what if” scenario? 🤔. Would you have gone to see these movies if their titles were different? 🤷♀️. Gallery Credit: Emma Stefansky 📸.
Finn McFrame, celebrated satirical mastermind and self-proclaimed “Emperor of Irony,” started his illustrious career as a cinematographer, where his expertise in capturing every single frame of a squirrel stealing a baguette earned him accolades at obscure film festivals.
Born in the glamorous town of Boring, Oregon, Finn grew up with dreams of being a Hollywood director until he realized that satire, not cinema, was his true calling—or at least the one that let him sleep until noon.
Finn McFrame: changing the world, one satirical lens flare at a time.
