After nearly seven years away from the big screen, a new Star Wars movie drew healthy but not record-breaking crowds to global theaters this weekend. According to studio estimates on Sunday, “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” made $82 million in ticket sales from 4,300 theaters in the U.S. and Canada. By the end of Monday’s Memorial Day holiday, it’s expected to have earned $102 million domestically and $165 million globally.
It exceeded opening weekend expectations for the movie, a continuation of Disney+ spinoff series “The Mandalorian,” but it’s also on the low end of Disney-era Star Wars releases, closer to “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” which made $103 million over the four-day Memorial Day frame in 2018. While “Solo” was considered a disaster, the metrics around “The Mandalorian and Grogu” are a little different.
The production budget for “Solo” was in the $300 million range, while “The Mandalorian and Grogu” was made for significantly less — a reported $165 million, not accounting for marketing and promotion costs. It makes the journey to profitability more likely, especially when factoring in positive audience scores. Although critics were mixed to negative on the movie (it currently carries a 63% on Rotten Tomatoes), ticket buyers overall gave it an A- CinemaScore. Boys under the age of 13 are especially high on the movie: They gave it an A CinemaScore and a perfect five on PostTrak. Parents also gave it a five out of five.
