Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu continues to struggle at the box office. The film has now crossed $290 million worldwide after three weekends, but with a production budget of $165 million and marketing costs on top, it still has significant ground to cover before reaching profitability.
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 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. That is an improvement over the B+ that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker received in 2019 and puts it in strong company among Disney-era Star Wars films.
Social media reaction from fans has been similarly enthusiastic. Many are 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 the lowest opening for a Star Wars film under Disney, narrowly edging out Solo’s $84.4 million three-day start. Critics gave it a 64% on Rotten Tomatoes, while audiences were far more enthusiastic with that 88% score and A- CinemaScore.
The Brutal Second Weekend Drop
The film dropped approximately 69% in its second weekend, earning around $25 million domestically and falling to third place. The 69.4% drop is the steepest second-weekend decline in Star Wars history, worse than the 65% drop that Solo: A Star Wars Story suffered in 2018. Distribution sources suggest the core Star Wars audience for this IP is simply finite, and most showed up in the first weekend.
Can The Mandalorian And Grogu Recover?
At $290 million worldwide and still playing, the film needs to close a significant gap to reach the roughly $450 million globally needed to break even. Toy Story 5 opened June 19 and brought a major wave of new competition. The most direct comparison remains Solo: A Star Wars Story, which finished at around $393 million worldwide, well below its break-even point.
Disney has publicly framed the film’s value as extending beyond the box office, pointing to 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. For the latest box office data, visit Box Office Mojo. For more Star Wars news, check out our coverage of Star Wars: Zero Company’s release date reveal.
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