The Mandalorian & Grogu Box Office: $163M Global Opening — What It Means for Star Wars

After seven long years without a Star Wars film in theaters, Lucasfilm finally returned to the big screen this Memorial Day weekend with “The Mandalorian & Grogu” — and the results are… complicated. The film pulled in an estimated $98–102 million over the four-day holiday weekend and $163 million globally, numbers that would make most franchises pop champagne. But for Star Wars? The conversation is far more nuanced than a simple victory lap.

Trailer: IGN (YouTube)

Let’s break down what happened, why the critical reception has been so divided, and what this all means for the future of the galaxy far, far away.

The Numbers: How Did The Mandalorian & Grogu Actually Perform?

According to Variety and Deadline, the film earned approximately $33 million on its opening Friday (including $12 million from Thursday previews), with the three-day weekend landing somewhere around $79-82 million. The four-day Memorial Day holiday pushed the domestic total to between $98 million (per Deadline’s Tuesday actuals) and $102 million (per Variety’s Sunday estimates). Internationally, the film added roughly $63 million, bringing the global opening to a clean $163 million.

That $165 million production budget — the cheapest live-action Star Wars film Disney has ever made — means the movie will turn a profit. But here’s where things get uncomfortable for Lucasfilm.

This is the lowest domestic opening for any live-action Star Wars film in the Disney era. It came in below Solo: A Star Wars Story, which opened to $84.4 million (three-day) / $103 million (four-day) over the same Memorial Day weekend in 2018 — and Solo was widely considered a disappointment at the time. For context, here’s how the Disney-era Star Wars films stack up on opening weekend:

• The Force Awakens (2015): $248 million
• The Last Jedi (2017): $220 million
• The Rise of Skywalker (2019): $177.4 million
• Rogue One (2016): $155.1 million
• Solo (2018): $84.4 million / $103 million (Memorial Day)
• The Mandalorian & Grogu (2026): ~$79-82 million / $98-102 million (Memorial Day)

As TheWrap bluntly put it: “A Galaxy Diminished: Star Wars Returns as a Mid-Tier Franchise.” Ouch.

The Great Divide: Critics vs. Audiences

Here’s where this story gets genuinely fascinating. The critical and audience reactions to The Mandalorian & Grogu couldn’t be more different.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the critics’ score (the Tomatometer) sits somewhere between 60% and 66% — perilously close to the “Rotten” threshold and, as Forbes noted, “one of Star Wars’ worst critic scores.” The film received a CinemaScore of A-, which is solid but below the A grades earned by The Force Awakens, Rogue One, and The Last Jedi.

But here’s the twist: audiences absolutely loved it. The Popcornmeter (audience score) on Rotten Tomatoes hit a record-setting 88-89%, according to multiple outlets including Forbes, MovieWeb, and Yahoo News. That’s not just good — it’s historic. The Mandalorian & Grogu now holds a Rotten Tomatoes audience score record for the franchise.

So what’s happening? IndieWire offered perhaps the most useful lens: the box office was “driven by families, not fanboys.” This tracks — parents who fell in love with Grogu (aka Baby Yoda) during the pandemic brought their kids to theaters. Meanwhile, critics who may have been hoping for a bold new direction for Star Wars got something more familiar.

What This Means for Star Wars Going Forward

Let’s be honest about the context here. This is the first Star Wars theatrical release in seven years — the longest gap between Star Wars films in the franchise’s entire history, going back to 1977. The Rise of Skywalker ended the Skywalker Saga in December 2019, and then… silence.

In that time, the Star Wars brand has been kept alive almost entirely on Disney+ through shows like The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, Andor, and Skeleton Crew. The challenge Lucasfilm now faces is that audiences have been trained to think of Star Wars as a streaming property — something you watch on your couch, not something you buy a ticket for.

That said, there are genuine bright spots. The $165 million budget is remarkably restrained by modern blockbuster standards, meaning The Mandalorian & Grogu will be profitable — something that can’t be said for every big-budget film this summer. And the audience love suggests strong word-of-mouth potential in the weeks ahead.

The question now is whether Lucasfilm can rebuild Star Wars as a theatrical event. The Mandalorian & Grogu wasn’t a disaster — but it also wasn’t the triumphant return to glory that Disney was hoping for. It’s a mid-tier success in a franchise that used to define the top tier.

Should You See It?

If you have kids, or if you’re one of the millions who fell in love with Grogu during the pandemic, the answer seems to be a resounding yes. The audience score doesn’t lie — this is a crowd-pleaser. If you’re a longtime Star Wars fan hoping for something that pushes the franchise into bold new territory, you might find yourself wishing for a little more. But given that the film is already a financial success with strong audience backing, it seems likely we haven’t seen the last of Mando and his little green companion on the big screen.

The Mandalorian & Grogu is now playing exclusively in theaters. You can find showtimes and streaming availability updates on Telepisodes, your go-to source for latest movies online and trending TV series.

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Sources: Variety, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Forbes, IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, TheWrap, IndieWire, MovieWeb.

What do you think about The Mandalorian & Grogu’s box office performance? Did you see it this weekend? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!

Image credit: Mandalorian cosplayer at Star Wars Celebration 2017 — MediaGamut via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)