Why a Mandalorian and Grogu Film Makes Sense
A Mandalorian film four years after the first season? It’s time to put on our business suits.
A secret Star Wars film that has been in development was announced recently with a title and director, more than the three Star Wars films announced at Star Wars Celebration in 2023. Jon Favreau will direct The Mandalorian and Grogu, and fans will see the two in a theatrical film release.
The news shocked many fans as a welcome surprise, but some also wondered what this meant for the Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s Rey film set after Rise of Skywalker. However, that is not the most interesting question to ask from this reveal. Neither is why they mentioned Ahsoka season two was in pre-production in passing within the article.
The question is why this is happening now, after three seasons of The Mandalorian and in between a planned connected event spanning four series ( The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, The Book of Boba Fett, and The Skeleton Crew).
But first, important context.
Budget Disney Plus Star Wars Live Action Series (estimates)
Sources: MovieWeb (via Washington Post) and TheDirect
The Mandalorian: $15M per episode (plus 5M for the Grogu animatronic)
Andor season one: $15–25M per episode
Obi-Wan Kenobi: $90M total (average $15M per episode)
The Book of Boba Fett: $15M per episode
The Skeleton Crew: $136M total
The Mandalorian is Still the Most Successful Series on Disney Plus
After seven Disney Plus original Star Wars series in four years, The Mandalorian remains the most successful series across viewership, engagement, awards, and merchandising.
Aside from releasing the Rey film, which would also have a built-in audience with a known character, Mando and Grogu are the most valuable new characters. Having Star Wars in the title is no longer guaranteed for a film to hit $1B, which Disney found out the hard way with Solo: A Star Wars Story. One could strongly argue that there were other factors at play: having a May release so close to The Last Jedi in December barely allowed people to register a new film with a recast of a popular character in Han Solo. Casting a younger version of Harrison Ford afforded more time for people to get to know the actor and sit with the marketing material and better-placed trailers. People had also gotten used to seeing Star Wars in December.
And this is where the business of quarterly earnings ended up costing Disney more than was ever necessary because once the masses decide they can miss one film in a franchise, there is a chance you might not get many back. Rise of Skywalker ended its theatrical run at $1.077B, but the studio cannot dismiss the context of starting at $2.7B with The Force Awakens.
By moving Solo: A Star Wars Story to May to likely try and strengthen their second quarter, Disney lost twice: the lowest-grossing film in the Star Wars franchise led to the end of the “A Star Wars Story” anthology films, which were and remained a strong idea.
There is no official word whether The Mandalorian and Grogu will have the “A Star Wars Story” subtitle (my guess is they will leave that in the past), but this would not quite be an anthology film. It will have characters (and actors) from the series and probably connect to Filoni’s film somehow. And while the viewership is not as strong as in previous seasons, a theatrical release is the way to keep existing viewers engaged, bring back old ones, and welcome new ones into the fold.
A second season of Ahsoka is confirmed, a fourth season of The Mandalorian is being discussed, and The Skeleton Crew is in post-production. Having a film released in the middle that is a standalone Star Wars story while rewarding streaming viewers by providing hints to the larger overarching narrative could bring momentum back to both the theatrical and streaming mediums.
The Story and Production Logistics Are Already In Place
Last we left Mando and Grogu, the former officially adopted the latter and currently live on gifted land on Nevarro. And Mando is secretly employed by the New Republic to hunt down Imperial remnants.
The two hunting Imperials can also be a contained story. Teva can give Mando a specific target, and one can build an entire story around that situation. It will be the first film that takes place during The New Republic era, but a strong history and context is on Disney Plus for those willing to spend time, or at least for those willing to read cut-and-paste articles on Screen Rant or Collider for context.
Either way, the narrative roots exist, and so do the locations. Nevarro, Mandalore, parts of Tatooine, and other worlds seen in The Mandalorian have already been created and can be revisited to save costs. Fans have many thoughts on the Volume and the quality of the environments. The surroundings often appear flat even though practical sets are built within the Volume for the actors to interact with. The Andor production filming on location in England highlighted these differences even more; however, Andor was the most expensive aired Star Wars series with the lowest viewership. Cost per episode with 12 total puts Andor in the same budget ballpark as a traditional Star Wars film ($240M). The Acolyte will be the most expensive, with a nearly $50M pre-production budget alone. However, that will also introduce a new era in live-action in The High Republic, which means new costumes and production design.
But one of the best-looking episodes of Star Wars streaming thus far was in The Mandalorian season two, “Chapter 9: The Marshal,” directed by Jon Favreau, which brings us to the next point.
Jon Favreau is a Billion Dollar Director, and Disney Needs More Billion Dollar Films
If you have not seen “The Marshal” or it has been a while, take a second look at it. Most of the episode takes place on Tatooine with a key battle between townspeople led by Mando and Cobb Vanth, the Tusken Raiders, and a krayt dragon. It was Jon Favreau’s first episode to direct, having spent most of season one working on The Lion King (2019), and it is the most cinematic episode of the entire series. The 2.39:1 aspect ratio even shifts during the krayt dragon fight at the end of the episode to a 1.78:1(16:9) IMAX format.
“The Marshal” was an impressive way to kick off a memorable season, and this episode stands to be a good litmus test of what The Mandalorian and Grogu will look like. Jon Favreau knows how to utilize technology to craft environments that feel lived in, but, more importantly, he makes event films. And Disney needs Star Wars to be an event again. If Favreau can take the equivalent of two hours’ worth of Mandalorian budget (let’s say four episodes would be around $60–80M) and make AT LEAST $600M, which is possible, Disney will make a profit. If Star Wars still proves to be a billion-dollar brand, even better. But I bet Favreau’s brief from Lucasfilm is to keep that budget as close to streaming as possible. And I believe he can take the best of the Volume and on-location shooting (likely NOT in the UK) to bring Mando and Grogu to the big screen.
Bonus: Pedro Pascal’s Ascension
Pedro Pascal’s career differs from when The Mandalorian was first released in 2020. He is far more prevalent in film and television, and that’s only good news for this film. The biggest question is whether Lucasfilm and Favreau are trying to think of ways to show his face. It might mean a larger paycheck for the actor than he got for the series, but it would be worthwhile, along with a press tour.
The most important thing is that Star Wars gets back to the big screen, and Favreau and The Mandalorian brand are the best chances to get Star Wars in theaters sooner rather than later.
Originally published at http://creditsandcanon.com on January 25, 2024.
