Image from Disney’s Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu.
Disney
Walt Disney “The Mandalorian and Grogu” hit theaters Friday, marking the first time in seven years that a new Star Wars movie has hit the big screen.
Sunday’s estimates indicated that the film, based on the hit Disney+ series “The Mandalorian,” exceeded initial box office projections, totaling $82 million in domestic ticket sales during its first three days of theatrical release. The official figures will be published on Monday.
While “The Mandalorian and Grogu” exceeded the 80 million dollars As most box office analysts predicted, it has so far grossed less than 2018’s “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” which at $84 million was the previous lowest-grossing Star Wars project in the era of Disney Star Wars releases, according to Comscore data.
Analysts predict the film will surpass $100 million domestically for the four-day Memorial Day weekend. Internationally, “The Mandalorian and Grogu” raked in approximately $63 million in ticket sales.
The film benefited from premium large format screenings like IMAX and Dolby Cinema, as 41% of tickets were sold for these upgraded, more expensive screenings, according to EntTelligence data. Standard tickets to the film averaged $16.01 each, while premium tickets averaged $19.43 each, the data company reported.
However, the film’s box office isn’t the only metric Disney will be watching. The company’s strategy doesn’t rely solely on ticket sales: It has other avenues for revenue growth, including merchandise, its streaming service and theme parks.
Star Wars generates over $1 billion in retail sales every year, even without a new title hitting theaters.
Additionally, “The Mandalorian” series is the most-watched original show on Disney+, with more than 1.3 billion hours watched worldwide. Audience for the series and other Star Wars titles has seen an increase on the platform in recent weeks due to the release of “The Mandalorian and Grogu.”
At its domestic theme parks, the company updated its “Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run” ride to feature a new mission featuring Grogu in the cockpit. At the same time, the BDX droids featured in the film reappeared in Disneyland’s Galaxy’s Edge themed area. Additionally, through its close partnership with developer Epic Games, Fortnite has introduced new environments, characters, vehicles, and purchasable cosmetics for players.