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: it’s audience score has already rocketed to 88 percent.
The tentpole — which marks the first Star Wars film to play in theaters in seven years — continues the story of The Mandalorian, the 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.
