For years, theatrical Star Wars has been haunted by one name. Not Palpatine. Not Snoke. Not “somehow.” Solo. Ever since Solo: A Star Wars Story underperformed in 2018, every conversation about Star Wars returning to theaters has carried the same nervous question: can this franchise still work on the big screen without being a billion-dollar Skywalker Saga event? The Mandalorian and Grogu may have finally given Lucasfilm the answer. No, it is not the biggest Star Wars movie ever. No, it is not pulling The Force Awakens numbers. But according to Box Office Mojo, the film has crossed $315 million worldwide and currently sits as the 7th highest-grossing movie of 2026. That matters. This Is Not a Flop Story Anymore The online box office debate around The Mandalorian and Grogu has been weird from the start. Some wanted it to be a disaster. Some wanted it to be a triumphant…
Star Wars Movies
Manny Jacinto’s Favorite Star Wars Movies Say a Lot About Why Fans Love the Weird Stuff
Manny Jacinto has picked his favorite Star Wars movies, and honestly, the man has range. The Acolyte actor, who played Qimir/The Stranger, recently said his top choices outside of his own show are Rogue One and The Phantom Menace. On paper, that sounds like two very different corners of the galaxy. One is grim, grounded, tragic, and ends with Darth Vader turning a hallway into a horror movie. The other gave a generation podracing, battle droids, Naboo politics, Darth Maul, and the eternal childhood thrill of going way too fast on Nintendo 64. Somehow, the combination makes perfect sense. Rogue One Is the Easy Pick, But for Good Reason Jacinto pointed to Rogue One partly because of the stunt team connection to The Acolyte, but also because of that Darth Vader hallway scene. Fair. That scene has become one of the most talked-about Vader moments in modern Star Wars because…
Cody Rhodes Just Explained The Last Jedi Better Than Half the Internet
Star Wars: The Last Jedi discourse is apparently the Sarlacc pit of fandom. You think it is over. You think everyone has escaped. Then someone says “Luke Skywalker” online, and suddenly we are all back in the sand screaming again. This time, though, WWE star Cody Rhodes has entered the arena with one of the better defenses of The Last Jedi we have heard in years. According to GeekTyrant, Rhodes explained that his love for the film is deeply personal and oddly wrestling-related. The short version: he did not want Luke Skywalker returning as a shiny action figure version of himself. He wanted the broken old legend with one final meaningful punch left in him. And honestly? That is a much better way to understand the movie. Luke Was Never Going to Be 1983 Forever A lot of the anger around The Last Jedi comes from one expectation: Luke Skywalker…
Brendan Wayne Has the Perfect Answer to Toxic Star Wars Fandom
Brendan Wayne has spent years helping bring Din Djarin to life inside the Mandalorian armor. So when he talks about Star Wars fandom, it is not coming from someone standing outside the blast doors throwing rocks. He is part of the machine. Part of the myth. Part of the helmet. And his latest comments about toxic Star Wars fans hit harder than a whistling bird to the ego. Speaking to MovieWeb, Wayne addressed the strange habit some fans have of pulling against the franchise they claim to love. His sharpest point was simple: “They didn’t ruin your Star Wars. It’s our Star Wars.” That is the whole argument, really. Criticism Is Not the Problem Let’s be clear before someone ignites a comment-section lightsaber. Criticism is fine. Star Wars fans can dislike a movie. They can argue about The Last Jedi. They can roll their eyes at a plot choice, hate…
The Mandalorian & Grogu’s Box Office Problem Is Bigger Than One Weekend
For years, Star Wars fans asked the same question: when is Star Wars finally coming back to theaters? Now that The Mandalorian & Grogu is here, the more awkward question is starting to creep in: Did everyone actually rush to see it? This is not a clean “Star Wars is dead” story, no matter how much the internet enjoys putting a tiny helmet on bad news. The movie opened well. Grogu is still adorable. Din Djarin is still cool. The Star Wars name still matters. But momentum matters too. And right now, The Mandalorian & Grogu feels less like a victory lap and more like Lucasfilm getting a polite tap on the shoulder. The Mandalorian & Grogu Is Not a Flop, But It Is Fading Fast According to The Numbers, The Mandalorian & Grogu opened domestically with $81.6 million. For most movies, that is great. For Star Wars, it comes…
The Mandalorian and Grogu Is Expected to Hit Disney+ This Year
Din Djarin and Grogu may be heading back to where their modern Star Wars story began: Disney+. After its theatrical run, The Mandalorian and Grogu is now expected to arrive on Disney+ later this year, according to comments from Disney+ EMEA chief Karl Holmes reported by The Hollywood Reporter. There is no exact streaming date yet. No official “mark your calendar” announcement. No cute Grogu countdown button. But the message is clear enough: the movie is part of Disney+’s 2026 film pipeline. From Streaming Hit to Big-Screen Star Wars That is a neat little full-circle moment. The Mandalorian helped define Disney+ when the service launched in 2019. Grogu became a global pop culture gremlin almost overnight, Din Djarin became one of modern Star Wars’ most recognizable leads, and the series proved that Star Wars could work as premium streaming television. Then Lucasfilm did something bigger. Instead of simply making a…
The Mandalorian Theme Gets a Massive Danish Symphony Performance
Some Star Wars music arrives with trumpets, destiny, and the Force basically kicking the door open. The Mandalorian did something different. Ludwig Göransson’s theme came in with recorders, drums, strange textures, western swagger, and the feeling that one very tired bounty hunter was about to walk through smoke with problems behind him and worse problems ahead. Now that sound has been given the full concert hall treatment by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, and yes, it absolutely works. The live performance, shared by DR Koncerthuset on YouTube, brings Göransson’s instantly recognizable Mandalorian theme into a big orchestral setting, turning the lone gunslinger energy into something wider, richer, and more cinematic. The Theme Still Hits Differently One reason The Mandalorian theme became so memorable is that it never sounded like a normal Star Wars copy. It was not trying to imitate John Williams. Smart move, because that is how composers get…
Rogue One Director Gareth Edwards Thinks AI Could Be Bigger Than CGI
Gareth Edwards is not exactly running from the AI conversation. The Rogue One: A Star Wars Story director has spoken positively about generative AI in filmmaking, arguing that the technology could become one of the biggest creative tools in cinema. In a new report from The Hollywood Reporter, Edwards is quoted as saying AI is “going to be better than CGI.” That is a spicy sentence. Especially in Hollywood right now. AI remains one of the most radioactive topics in entertainment, with writers, actors, artists, editors, VFX teams, and studios all arguing over what should be automated, protected, credited, or absolutely kept away from the creative process. But Edwards’ view seems less like “replace everyone” and more like “this tool is too powerful to ignore.” Why Edwards’ Opinion Matters Edwards is not some random tech executive waving a shiny toy at filmmakers. He directed Rogue One, one of the most…
Grogu Was Number Two on the Mandalorian Movie Call Sheet
Grogu may be small enough to fit in a floating pram, but on the set of The Mandalorian and Grogu, he was apparently treated like a proper movie star. According to Variety’s feature on how Grogu was brought to life, the character was listed as number two on the film’s call sheet. Yes, right behind the title character territory. Yes, for the tiny green chaos child. And honestly? Fair. At this point, Grogu is not just a cute sidekick. He is one of the central reasons The Mandalorian became a cultural phenomenon in the first place. Grogu Is Not Just a Prop The funny thing about Grogu is that he could easily have been treated like an effect. A puppet. A digital creature. A merchandising miracle with ears. Instead, Lucasfilm has spent years treating him like an actual character, and the call sheet detail says a lot about that approach….
Dave Filoni Says Star Wars Crossovers Need a Reason
Star Wars has become very good at making audiences look over every shoulder for the next familiar face. Ahsoka might appear. Thrawn might be lurking. Zeb could walk in. Someone from animation might suddenly become very expensive in live action. The galaxy is connected, and viewers know it. But Dave Filoni is making one thing clear: Star Wars should not become a cameo delivery system. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly about The Mandalorian and Grogu, Filoni said writing Star Wars projects “is not always about character crossovers.” Instead, he said, “It’s about the characters and what they’re experiencing.” That may sound simple, but for modern Star Wars, it is a pretty important line in the sand. Not Every Story Needs Ahsoka and Thrawn The comment comes as Jon Favreau and Filoni discuss why Ahsoka Tano and Grand Admiral Thrawn do not appear in The Mandalorian and Grogu. On paper, fans could…
Marcia Lucas, Oscar-Winning Star Wars Editor, Dies at 80
Marcia Lucas, the Academy Award-winning editor whose work helped shape the original Star Wars into one of cinema’s most enduring adventures, has died at the age of 80. According to the Associated Press, Lucas died in Rancho Mirage, California, after metastatic cancer. For Star Wars history, her name belongs among the essential behind-the-scenes artists who helped turn George Lucas’ space fantasy into something mythic, emotional, funny, fast, and deeply human. She was often introduced through her marriage to George Lucas, but that has never been the full story. Marcia Lucas was one of the key creative forces in the editing room where Star Wars found its rhythm, its tension, and, in many ways, its soul. The Editor Who Helped Shape Star Wars Marcia Lucas won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing for the original 1977 Star Wars, sharing the Oscar with Paul Hirsch and Richard Chew. That credit matters…
Christopher Lee Gave Count Dooku the Class Star Wars Needed
Some Star Wars villains enter the room like a thunderstorm. Count Dooku entered like a man who had already judged the furniture, the wine, the government, and your lightsaber technique. Christopher Lee, born on May 27, 1922, brought something unusually sharp to the prequel trilogy when he arrived as Dooku in Attack of the Clones. Star Wars already had monsters, tyrants, masked nightmares, cackling Sith Lords, and bounty hunters with jetpacks. What it did not have, at least not quite like this, was a villain who felt like aristocracy had personally discovered the dark side and decided it was better managed with a cape. Dooku was not loud. He did not need to be. A Sith Lord With Manners The official Star Wars Databank describes Dooku as a former Jedi trained by Yoda, later disillusioned with the Order and drawn into Darth Sidious’ grand design. On paper, that is already…
Starfield Just Got the Mando and Grogu Crossover Bethesda Never Made
At this point, Starfield modders are not just adding Star Wars flavor. They are quietly building the galaxy Bethesda never officially gave us. The latest example is The Mandalorian and Grogu, a new Starfield mod by TheSniper9 that turns Bethesda’s space RPG into a much more familiar kind of sci-fi playground. The pack is built as a tie-in to The Mandalorian and Grogu, but it is not just a quick armor drop or a single cosmetic swap. This thing brings Din Djarin gear, Grogu as a follower, a questline, weapons, and even a new vehicle into Starfield. So yes, the modding community has once again looked at a game and said: “Nice universe. We’ll take it from here.” This Is More Than a Beskar Outfit The mod includes a Din Djarin Beskar Armor set, complete with Grogu hanging onto the left shoulder, plus Din’s Pre-Beskar Armor from the first episode…
Mando’s Helmet Was Hiding More Emotion Than We Thought
Spoilers for The Mandalorian and Grogu below. Din Djarin’s helmet has always been the point. It hides the face, flattens the expression, and forces The Mandalorian to do something Star Wars has always loved: make emotion visible through posture, silence, timing, and one extremely expensive suit of armor. But apparently, the helmet was hiding more than we realized. In a new Entertainment Weekly interview, Brendan Wayne, who physically portrays Mando in the armor, said he had “tears coming out of the helmet” while filming one of The Mandalorian and Grogu’s biggest emotional moments. That is not just a nice behind-the-scenes anecdote. It is a reminder that Din Djarin is not only a voice, a suit, or a helmet. He is a performance built from all three. The Body Behind the Beskar Pedro Pascal is the name on the poster, and rightly so. His voice gives Din Djarin that tired, controlled,…
Dave Filoni Says He’s Becoming Lucasfilm’s Little Obi-Wan
Dave Filoni has found a very Dave Filoni way to describe running Star Wars. Not “brand architect.”Not “content overseer.”Not “the guy trying to stop the galaxy from collapsing under the weight of canon spreadsheets.” No, Filoni sees himself a little differently. Speaking to USA Today, via AOL, the Lucasfilm creative chief described his role as helping bring out the best in the people around him and being “a little Obi-Wan” when creators need guidance through the galaxy. Honestly, that may be the most Star Wars management quote ever given. The Mentor Role Fits Filoni Almost Too Well Filoni has always been a slightly unusual figure in modern Star Wars. He began as George Lucas’ animation apprentice on The Clone Wars, became one of the key voices behind Rebels, helped shape the Disney+ era through The Mandalorian and Ahsoka, and is now one of the central creative leaders steering Lucasfilm into…
Mando and Grogu Just Made Starfighter’s Job Harder
The Mandalorian and Grogu has done its job. Star Wars is back in theaters, the opening weekend was strong, and Grogu has once again proven that he may be less a character and more a tiny green economic stabilizer with ears. But that success also makes the next Star Wars movie more interesting. Because if The Mandalorian and Grogu was the safe theatrical restart, Star Wars: Starfighter is shaping up to be the real test. The Safe Bet Worked The numbers are good. The Mandalorian and Grogu opened with roughly $165 million worldwide, according to Reuters, giving Lucasfilm exactly what it needed after years away from cinemas: proof that Star Wars can still pull people into theaters. But it did so with a lot of help. Din Djarin and Grogu are familiar. They have years of Disney+ momentum behind them. They are family-friendly, toy-friendly, meme-friendly, and emotionally simple in the…
Star Wars’ Streaming Detour May Not Have Hurt the Franchise After All
For years, the big worry around Star Wars was simple: had Disney trained audiences to see the galaxy as a streaming franchise? After The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, Ahsoka, and several animated series, Star Wars had spent a long time living on Disney+. Good for subscription value. Good for weekly discourse. Good for Grogu GIFs. But maybe risky for theaters. Now The Mandalorian and Grogu has opened with around $165 million worldwide, and the early answer may be less dramatic than expected. Star Wars did not return to cinemas like The Force Awakens. But it also did not come crawling back with a broken hyperdrive and a note from accounting. As box office analyst David A. Gross told Variety: “For Star Wars not to be hurt in any obvious way by its long detour onto streaming is good news for the franchise.” That is the…
May 25 Is the Real Star Wars Day, and the Movies Prove It
May the 4th has the pun. May 25 has the receipts. Long before Star Wars Day became a hashtag, a merch wave, and the annual moment where every brand with a social media intern suddenly discovered lightsabers, May 25 was already the date that changed the galaxy. The original Star Wars arrived in theaters on May 25, 1977. Six years later, Return of the Jedi opened on May 25, 1983. That is not just trivia. That is the franchise’s cinematic birth certificate and the original trilogy’s victory lap landing on the same calendar square. So yes, May the 4th is fun. But May 25 is the day Star Wars actually became Star Wars. The Day the Galaxy Opened When the film now known as A New Hope first opened in 1977, it was not yet a sacred text, a streaming category, a theme park ecosystem, or a multi-generation licensing empire….
Mando and Grogu Opens Big, But Star Wars Still Has Something to Prove
Star Wars is back in theaters, and the opening weekend number is doing exactly what Star Wars numbers usually do: starting an argument. The Mandalorian and Grogu opened to an estimated $165 million worldwide over Memorial Day weekend, with about $102 million coming from the U.S. and Canada, according to Reuters and AP. That is a big number. A very big number, in fact. It is also the lowest domestic opening for a Disney-era Star Wars movie. So yes, welcome back to theatrical Star Wars, where even success has to arrive carrying a small glowing discourse grenade. A Strong Opening, But Not a Supernova For almost any other franchise, a $165 million global launch would be a clear victory lap. For Star Wars, it comes with an asterisk shaped like the Millennium Falcon. The good news is obvious: The Mandalorian and Grogu brought Star Wars back to cinemas after a…
Can Mando and Grogu Make Star Wars Feel Big Again?
Star Wars is back in theaters, but the real question is slightly more uncomfortable: Does it still feel huge? The Mandalorian and Grogu has finally brought the galaxy far, far away back to cinemas after a long theatrical break. It is the first new Star Wars movie since The Rise of Skywalker in 2019, and Disney is clearly hoping Din Djarin and Grogu can do more than sell popcorn. They need to remind people that Star Wars still belongs on the biggest screen possible. That is a heavier job than it sounds. The Galaxy Returns With Smaller Expectations According to Reuters, The Mandalorian and Grogu has been projected to open somewhere between $75 million and $100 million in the U.S. and Canada. For almost any other franchise, that would be a strong launch. For Star Wars, it is more complicated. Disney-era Star Wars used to open like a cultural emergency….
Fortnite’s Mando Crossover Is Only the First Step
Fortnite is not just borrowing Star Wars costumes anymore. It is starting to look like one of the places where Star Wars tests what the franchise can become next. With The Mandalorian and Grogu now tied directly into Fortnite through a dedicated Watch Party Island, quests, rewards, and a full Nevarro-inspired experience, Lucasfilm and Epic Games are doing more than tossing Din Djarin into the Item Shop and calling it a day. According to StarWars.com, the Watch Party Island gave players a special message from Jon Favreau and a 10-minute sneak peek of The Mandalorian and Grogu ahead of the film’s theatrical release. That alone is unusual enough. But Favreau’s comments to GamesRadar make the whole thing more interesting. He called the collaboration “a very first step” toward what he sees becoming a much larger project. That sounds less like a one-off promo and more like Lucasfilm quietly opening a…
Disney Just Turned Smugglers Run Into a Mando and Grogu Ride
The Millennium Falcon just got a new job, and naturally, Grogu is involved. A new Mandalorian and Grogu mission has officially arrived for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, launching at both Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort alongside The Mandalorian and Grogu hitting theaters. That timing is not exactly subtle. But honestly, neither is putting Din Djarin, Grogu, Hondo Ohnaka, multiple planets, branching destinations, and the Millennium Falcon into the same attraction update. This is Star Wars synergy with the hyperdrive fully repaired. The Falcon Has a New Mission The updated Smugglers Run mission sends crews after ex-Imperial officers, with Hondo Ohnaka once again turning your vacation into unpaid space labor. The adventure begins on Tatooine, because apparently every Star Wars mission is legally required to touch sand at some point. From there, the ride can branch toward several major locations, including Bespin, Coruscant, and…
Mando and Grogu’s 88% Audience Score Splits the Room
Star Wars is back in theaters, and yes, the galaxy is arguing again. The Mandalorian and Grogu currently has an 88% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, based on more than 1,000 verified ratings. That is a strong early sign that regular moviegoers are responding much more warmly to Din Djarin and Grogu’s big-screen adventure than many critics did. Because naturally, Star Wars could not simply return to cinemas quietly. It had to bring a scoreboard. Audiences Are Much Kinder Than Critics At the time of writing, Rotten Tomatoes lists the film at 64% on the Tomatometer and 88% on the Popcornmeter. That gap is the story. Critics have been more cautious, with several reviews describing the film as fun but familiar, charming but light, or closer to a supersized Disney+ adventure than a major cinematic reinvention. Audiences, apparently, are less bothered by that. For many viewers, “Mando and Grogu go…
Pedro Pascal Still Wants More Mando and Grogu
Pedro Pascal is not talking like someone ready to put the helmet away for good. With The Mandalorian and Grogu bringing Din Djarin and his tiny green chaos apprentice to the big screen, Pascal has made it clear that he still sees more road ahead for Star Wars’ most famous clan of two. Speaking in a new CBR interview clip, Pascal said he sees “a next chapter” for the pair, whether that happens on the big screen or the small screen. That is not an official announcement, obviously. Lucasfilm has not suddenly dropped a secret trilogy, a Disney+ season, and a Grogu holiday special into our laps. But it is still the kind of quote that tells you something important: the actor at the center of this whole beskar-covered machine does not sound finished. The Clan of Two Still Has Mileage The appeal of Mando and Grogu has always been…