The movie ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ has made a disappointing debut in North America, coming in lower than expected.
According to the North American box office tracking site Box Office Mojo, ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ earned a total of $81.96 million (approx. 124 billion KRW) across 4,300 theaters from its opening day on the 22nd to the 24th. It managed to barely cross the $100 million mark over the holiday weekend after earning an additional $20.4 million on Memorial Day, the 25th.
This is even lower than the $84.2 million opening of ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ (2018), which previously held the record for the lowest opening in the ‘Star Wars’ series. Compared to the opening of the previous film, ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ (2019), which earned $177.4 million, it is only about half. Even considering it is a spin-off, this reflects a decline in overall interest in the ‘Star Wars’ series compared to the past.
On the bright side, the production cost for ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ is relatively lower than previous ‘Star Wars’ films. With a budget of approximately $165 million, it was produced for $100 million less than ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ ($275 million), where costs soared due to a mid-production director change. It is also significantly lower than the previous film’s $489.9 million. Including marketing costs, the break-even point for ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ is estimated to be around $300 million.
Industry insiders also predict that Disney will not suffer a loss with ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu.’ Speaking via the US media outlet Deadline, they explained, “Movies like ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ sometimes generate more revenue through merchandise than theaters. The ‘Star Wars’ franchise is one of the top five toy franchises earning $1 billion annually, and a whopping 13 million Grogu dolls have been sold over the past two years since the drama featuring ‘Grogu’ first premiered.”
