Mandalorian & Grogu' Eyes $80 Million Opening

Key Points:

• Lucasfilm/Disney’s "The Mandalorian and Grogu," the first Star Wars movie in seven years, is projected to earn over $80 million during its four-day U.S. Memorial Day weekend opening, a strong start though below the typical $100M+ Star Wars debut.
• The film currently appeals mainly to men over 25, but Disney aims to attract more families leading up to its May 22 wide release, with a special May 4 IMAX preview of the first 19 minutes directed by Jon Favreau.
• This marks the first time a Disney+ property is receiving a full theatrical release, with "The Mandalorian" being one of the streaming service’s most popular series, having surpassed 1 billion hours streamed.
• Comparable box office openings include 2009’s "Star Trek" ($75.2M) and "Hobbs & Shaw" ($60M), while the lowest live-action Star Wars opening was 2018’s "Solo" with $103M over four days, which faced production issues and led Lucasfilm to halt standalone legacy character films.
• "The Mandalorian and Grogu" faces limited competition this weekend, with Paramount’s "Passenger" and Neon’s comedy "I Love Boosters" as counterprogramming, and features stars Pedro Pascal, Sigourney Weaver, Jeremy Allen White, and Martin Scorsese.