Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu just had a very rough second weekend at the box office. The film dropped approximately 69% domestically, earning around $25 million in its sophomore frame. That is the steepest second-weekend decline in Star Wars history, worse than the 65% drop that Solo: A Star Wars Story suffered in 2018.
With two weekends in the books, the film now sits at approximately $137 million domestic and $246.6 million worldwide. It needs roughly $450 million globally to break even on its $165 million production budget, meaning it has a long road ahead with difficult competition on the horizon.
Audiences Love It Even If The Box Office Does Not Reflect That
There is an important distinction worth making here. The box office numbers are struggling, but the people who have actually seen the film are overwhelmingly positive about it. The Mandalorian and Grogu holds an 88% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and earned an A- CinemaScore, which is actually an improvement over the B+ that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker received in 2019. That A- puts it in genuinely strong company among Disney-era Star Wars films.
Social media reaction from fans has been similarly enthusiastic, with many calling it a satisfying return to the characters and tone that made The Mandalorian one of the most-watched original series in Disney+ history. The problem is not that the film is bad. The problem is that not enough people went to see it.
How The Opening Weekend Set The Stage
The Mandalorian and Grogu opened over Memorial Day weekend to $81.7 million domestically over three days and $98 million over the four-day holiday frame. Those numbers were already the lowest opening for a Star Wars film under Disney, narrowly edging out Solo’s $84.4 million three-day start. Critics were more mixed on the film, giving it a 64% on Rotten Tomatoes, while audiences were far more enthusiastic with that 88% audience score and A- CinemaScore.
The opening was framed as a unique situation because this is the first Star Wars film born directly out of a streaming series, meaning its built-in theatrical audience was always going to be smaller than a mainline saga entry. Disney and Lucasfilm leaned into that narrative heading into the second weekend. However, a 69% drop is hard to explain away regardless of context.
What Happened In Weekend Two
The film fell from first place to third place domestically, overtaken by A24’s Backrooms, a low-budget horror film by first-time feature director Kane Parsons that earned a stunning $81 million in its opening weekend to set a new record for the indie studio. The R-rated thriller Obsession also held strongly in second place with around $30 million.
The contrast was striking. A $10 million horror film beat a $165 million Disney Star Wars movie in its second weekend. Industry analysts noted that the drop does not appear to be entirely about competition. Distribution sources suggest the core Star Wars audience for this particular IP is simply finite, and most of those fans showed up in the first weekend.
Can The Mandalorian And Grogu Recover?
The film has a lock on IMAX screens for three weeks domestically, which provides some cushion. International markets are also still building, with $109.2 million abroad so far. However, the worldwide cume of $246.6 million after two weekends leaves a significant gap to close before the film reaches profitability.
The most direct comparison is Solo: A Star Wars Story, which opened similarly and ultimately finished at around $393 million worldwide, well below its break-even point. If The Mandalorian and Grogu tracks similarly or worse, it would represent a significant setback for Lucasfilm’s strategy of bringing Disney+ characters to the big screen.
Disney has publicly framed the film’s value as extending beyond the box office, pointing to its impact on merchandise, theme park attendance, and franchise momentum. A new Mandalorian and Grogu mission within Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run at Disney Parks also debuted alongside the film. Whether that broader ecosystem argument is enough to offset a difficult theatrical run remains to be seen. Toy Story 5 opens in mid-June and will bring a wave of new competition.
