Following a year of box office disappointments driven in part by growing franchise fatigue, Disney knows exactly how to get this thing back on track: by giving the Mandalorian and Grogu a whole movie.
Turns out the cure for audiences’ increasing apathy toward More of the Same is to give them … More of the Same, but with a feature-length runtime and Baby Yoda up on the big m.f.’ing screen. Lucasfilm and Disney have announced a new Star Wars movie heading into production this year: The Mandalorian & Grogu. During a recent quarterly earnings call, Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed that Mando and Grogu’s big screen adventure will hit theaters on May 22, 2026.
Pedro Pascal’s beloved bounty hunter and his tiny green friend are headlining the film, which will be directed by Jon Favreau and produced by Favreau alongside Kathleen Kennedy and Lucasfilm’s newly-appointed chief creative officer Dave Filoni.
The Mandalorian & Grogu is one of a few Star Wars movies currently in development. Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is directing a new film that continues Rey’s story, with Daisy Ridley reprising her role as the young Jedi. In addition to developing Ahsoka season 2, Filoni is directing a movie set during the New Republic era. James Mangold, who directed last year’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, is attached to a film set during the Old Republic.
While it makes a certain amount of sense for Disney to continue printing money from the tiny ATM colloquially known as Baby Yoda (The Mandalorian is a hit and people friggin’ love baby creatures), the move is a little strange given that the studio just had its worst box office year in over a decade. Greenlighting a Mando & Grogu movie reads as both as an acceptance of defeat and an act of desperation. Here, you guys still like Baby Yoda, right? What if we gave him and his big space friend a whole movie? WILL YOU GO?! PROMISE?!
Ugh, yes, I will.
(featured image: Disney+)
