The Mandalorian & Grogu opens $12M

Disney and Lucasfilm’s “The Mandalorian & Grogu” opened with $12 million in Thursday preview sales ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, according to box office reports published Friday. The film is the first “Star Wars” movie to reach theaters in seven years and is playing on 4,300 North American screens. Trade outlets including Yahoo, TheWrap, Deadline and CNBC said trackers were looking for roughly a $90 million four-day domestic opening. Comscore data cited by CNBC said the preview total was the lowest advance-ticket start in the franchise’s history. ### How big is the Thursday number? The $12 million figure places the film below earlier “Star Wars” theatrical launches, according to several trade reports Friday. CNBC, citing Comscore, said it was the lowest Thursday preview haul for the franchise. The Hollywood Reporter and Yahoo also compared the start unfavorably with “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” the 2018 Memorial Day release that opened higher in previews. (yahoo.com) Deadline said the film’s early path resembled “Solo,” while stopping short of a final weekend call beyond the projected $90 million four-day frame. Yahoo’s entertainment coverage described the start as a “slow” one for a movie carrying the return of “Star Wars” to cinemas after a long gap. ### Why are people measuring it against Memorial Day so closely? (cnbc.com) Memorial Day has become one of the clearest box-office comparison points because last year’s holiday weekend set a domestic record. Deadline reported that 2025’s frame reached more than $326 million domestically, led by Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch” and Paramount’s “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.” CNBC separately put the domestic total at an estimated $326 million, while TheWrap cited about $328 million. (deadline.com) The global benchmark was even larger. The Hollywood Reporter said “Lilo & Stitch” opened to $341.7 million worldwide over the holiday frame, while “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” added $191 million globally. USA Today said the two films combined for $494.2 million worldwide. (deadline.com) ### What makes this release different for Lucasfilm? Seven years have passed since the last “Star Wars” film played theaters, making this release a test of whether a Disney+ property can convert into a theatrical event. “The Mandalorian & Grogu” is based on the streaming series created by Jon Favreau and brings Pedro Pascal’s armored bounty hunter and Grogu to the big screen. The Hollywood Reporter identified it as the first “Star Wars” title in theaters in seven years. (hollywoodreporter.com) CNBC said Disney was returning the franchise to cinemas at a moment when audience expectations for branded event films remain high. Trade coverage has focused less on reviews than on whether the movie can meet the opening-weekend threshold now being circulated by trackers. ### What number are trackers watching now? (hollywoodreporter.com) Deadline and Yahoo said the current target is about $90 million over four days, a figure that would make the film one of the holiday weekend’s main draws without matching the scale of last year’s Memorial Day leaders. TheWrap said the movie went wide Friday after Thursday previews, giving it the full holiday corridor to build beyond fan turnout. (cnbc.com) Monday’s holiday estimates will show whether “The Mandalorian & Grogu” held through the weekend and how close it came to tracker forecasts. Comscore’s running box-office data and Disney’s studio estimates are expected to provide the next benchmark for the film and for the broader Memorial Day frame. (cnbc.com) (deadline.com)