‘Star Wars: Mandalorian and Grogu’ tops box office with $81.9 million

LOS ANGELES – “Star Wars: Mandalorian and Grogu” opened with $81.9 million this weekend to easily lead all films in North America, according to industry estimates released Sunday.

The latest entry in the “Star Wars” franchise was directed by Jon Favreau, stars Pedro Pascal and Jeremy Allen White, and is based on the Disney+ television series “The Mandalorian.”

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This image released by Disney shows Rotta the Hutt, voiced by Jeremy Allen White, in a scene from Lucasfilm’s “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu.” (Lucasfilm Ltd. – Disney via AP)

The horror film “Obsession” earned $22.4 million Friday through Sunday in its second weekend in theaters, Comscore reported.

“Michael” was third with $20 million in its fifth week.

“The Devil Wears Prada 2” was fourth with $12.5 million in its fourth week, followed by “The Sheep Detectives,” which grossed $8.9 million in its third week.

The horror film “Passenger” opened in sixth place with $8.7 million.

Rounding out the top 10 releases were “Mortal Kombat II” ($6.1 million), “I Love Boosters” ($3.7 million), “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” ($3.1 million) and “Project Hail Mary” ($2.7 million).

‘Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu’

This weekend’s overall three-day box office haul was estimated at $174.2 million. The year-to-date total is $3.409 billion — up 14% from the
figure at this time last year, according to Comscore.

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.

$165 million globally

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.

A- CinemaScore

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.

The Jon Favreau-directed movie stars Pedro Pascal as the titular bounty hunter and puts him and his tiny green companion on a mission to save Jabba’s son Rotta the Hutt, who is voiced by Jeremy Allen White.

“Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” could also be graded on a bit of a curve because of the streaming component, both that it started as a series, and that it will eventually end up as a value add on Disney+, which was only about a month old when the last Star Wars movie, “The Rise of Skywalker,” debuted in December 2019.

Star Wars as a brand is in a time of transition under its new leadership team of Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan; Earlier this year it was announced that Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, who produced “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu,” was stepping down after 13 years.

The question for the industry is whether audience interest in Star Wars on the big screen might have cooled slightly, and if next year’s “Star Wars: Starfighter,” starring Ryan Gosling, will provide a definitive answer. Until then, the hope is that strong audience and exit scores will propel word-of-mouth generated enthusiasm in the coming weeks.

“The moviegoers rule,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the head of marketplace trends for Comscore. “I think given the audience reaction and the scores that are coming from parents and kids, this is going to be in it for the long haul.”

‘Obsession’

Word-of-mouth certainly helped Curry Barker’s relationship horror movie “Obsession” defy the standard box office trajectory and do better business in its second weekend. The Focus Features had an astonishing 30% uptick in ticket sales, earning $22.4 million from 2,655 theaters.

“That’s really unheard of,” Dergarabedian said. “And it is a testament to how this social media buzz from younger viewers is fueling the FOMO factor.”

The studio, which acquired the microbudget movie for some $15 million, is projecting that it will have made $28.2 million by the end of Monday, bringing its running total to $58.5 million. It snagged the second-place spot, while “Michael” landed in third place with $20 million for the three-day weekend. The Michael Jackson biopic has now earned $782.4 million. (With CNS and AP reports)

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