The Force is officially back on the big screen
As expected, Lucasfilm’s The Mandalorian & Grogu earned $12 million in previews when landing in select theaters across America at 2 p.m. local time on Thursday. The bigger headline is its audience score has already rocketed to 88 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
The tentpole — which marks the first Star Wars film to play in theaters in seven years — continues the story of The Mandalorian, Jon Favreau’s series that helped launch Disney+ and introduced the world to Baby Yoda (Grogu) just as the pandemic struck.
Pre-release tracking services show The Mandalorian and Grogu opening to roughly $82 million at the domestic box office for the four days, while some exhibitors see it coming in as high as $95 million to $100 million.
While the preview number is likely the lowest of any Star Wars title released by Disney since the company paid $4.05 billion to buy Lucasfilm in 2012, it’s not a huge surprise since the movie is tracking strongest with kids and older moviegoers.
In 2018, Solo: A Star Wars Story earned $14.1 million in previews on its way to a four-day opening of $103 million (that movie had the disadvantage of being dissed by both critics and audiences). Solo marked a low point for the franchise in topping out at less than $400 million globally.
Mandalorian‘s preview gross was on par with recent 2026 box office hits Michael ($12.6 million), Avatar: Fire and Ash ($12 million) and Project Hail Mail ($12 million).
Last year, Memorial Day weekend tentpole Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning grossed $8 million in previews on its way to four-day opening of $79 million.
Globally, Disney insiders expect Mandalorian and Grogu to earn at least $160 millions.
The movie sees Pedro Pascal return as Mandalorian, a bounty hunter also known as Din Djarin, who is charged with protecting Grogu. Favreau directed the film from a script he wrote with Noah Kloor and Dave Filoni, who earlier this year was upped to oversee the creative direction of Lucasfilm as president and chief creative officer following Kathleen Kennedy’s departure (he was a George Lucas protégé).
In the film, the Mandalorian is tasked by Sigourney Weaver’s Colonel Ward of the New Republic to rescue Rotta the Hutt, voiced by Jeremy Allen White. (Martin Scorsese also voices a memorable, four-armed food stand chef.)
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