The Mandalorian & Grogu is a highly anticipated movie event for Star Wars for multiple reasons, including being the franchise's first big screen release since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in 2019.
Beyond that, the movie is expected to help Star Wars cross a major milestone and place it behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the second-highest-grossing franchise at the box office. According to ScreenRant, Marvel rules the roost at number 1 with a whopping 33 theatrical releases, many of which have crossed the $1 billion mark at the box office, for a total collection of over $30 billion.
The Spider-Man franchise is second with $10.6 billion behind Marvel, followed closely at number 3 by Star Wars, which has grossed $10.3 billion at the box office so far. Recent Star Wars films haven't had any trouble collecting $1 billion at the box office, with Solo: A Star Wars Story being the only exception to this trend.
To cross the especially elusive amount of $11 billion, which belongs to Marvel, The Mandalorian & Grogu has to collect a minimum of $700 million worldwide. This shouldn't be difficult for the film as The Mandalorian has a loyal audience that's helped the series put up numbers few others have been able to surpass. As such, fans are eager to watch their favorite characters again. It's been a year since Season 3 ended, and most fans expected Season 4 to be filmed sometime this year and released in 2025.
While history has shown in recent years that a Star Wars movie, no matter how divisive, will bring in audiences, The Mandalorian & Grogu is experimental in that it's a highly successful TV series that is being made into a movie quite suddenly. This isn't The X-Files, which was on air for at least 4 to 5 seasons before its first theatrical release, or Peaky Blinders, which has 6 seasons in the books before filming starts on its movie. Instead, this is risky because it messes with a highly successful formula.
Only time will tell if fans who've watched the show online want to spend the money to watch it on the big screen. Fans remain cautiously optimistic about the movie but are confused by Lucasfilm's lack of clarity regarding the show's future. Will there be a 4th season, or was Season 3 the end of The Mandalorian?
For now, Disney probably hopes that the movie will be a huge success. If it is, it will be poetic that the characters who launched Disney+ and brought so much of the fandom together in the aftermath of the sequel trilogy, are the ones to help Star Wars become the second franchise after Marvel to gross $11 billion at the worldwide box office.
The Mandalorian & Grogu will premiere on May 22, 2026.