Mando and Grogu had a bad second weekend at the box office. Not only did Backrooms take the top spot, Obsession finished in second. Mando is in third. Ouch.

I know Mando and Grogu was never gonna be one of the highest grossing Star Wars movies ever, but I didn't expect this. What happened here? I like it's a combo of mixed word of mouth and people are so used to seeing Mando on streaming that they decided to skip it in theaters.

Sidenote: I guess I should make plans to see Obsession. Have heard only good things.

Everyone acts like a third place box office finish one week means a movie was a disaster and that just boggles my mind. We've turned into a movie culture that cares more about the box office receipt result than the films themselves.

Backrooms did well because there is a lot of unique buzz around it -- very young director comes out the gate swinging makes for a lot of virality and curiosity. It's the same sort of concept when people online in the beauty space start buzzing about a random lip balm and suddenly, you can't find it in stock anywhere for about 3 weeks. Obsession has been a grower as people realize that it's a really good movie (albeit one that I think has a troubling sort of concept). Mando even before it hit theaters had people screaming it was going to fail and you say something loud enough enough times, it has an impact. There's also the general understanding that it's just going to and on D+ in very short order which, personally is why I didn't see it in theaters. I've got a whole list of other movies I want to spend my money on. Knowing Mando will stream soon enough made it less of a priority in an economy where gas is creeping up on $6 a gallon.

It'll be interesting to see if it has any staying power. I think MOTU might KO it, given that early buzz on that one is it's fun - and something new.

The Mandalorian had a couple great seasons but it was the least popular it's ever been after the last season - so the idea that fans were going to turn up in droves for that story was a major miscalculation for Disney. Especially considering the final film (which I enjoyed enough) centers around a stoic guy that barely speaks, a babbling sidekick, and a giant space slug gladiator.

The movie really did just seem like a longer episode of the TV show - and, again, I don't think most viewers care about many of the Disney+ live-action Star Wars shows anymore.

Agree with what's been said above, and that the streaming-to-theatrical pipeline demonstrably does not work (Brave New World, The Marvels, Mando... none did great business). It also doesn't really matter in this case: it did decent money opening weekend, which is basically a bonus for something that otherwise would've been made for Disney+, and the real test of the franchise is next year.

I also think it's very much worth celebrating the general state of the box office right now, because the more original (not that Backrooms truly is, but still), fresh stories that can make money, the more diversification we can get alongside the big franchise/IP stuff, and everyone can win. Feels like the healthiest we've seen it in quite some time and I hope that continues trending upward

While i really did enjoy the movie, as said above, i think the greatest weakness of Mando and grogu is that it kind of plays out like a long episode of the Disney+ show, which would be daunting to new fans, or people not caught up with the show. I can't wait for MOTU this weekend though!

The people yearn for new things

37 minutes ago, saperry said:

The people yearn for new things

The highest-grossing movies of the summer will be a Toy Story sequel, a Spider-Man sequel, a Minions sequel, and a Disney remake... 😅

2 hours ago, James Hunt said:

The highest-grossing movies of the summer will be a Toy Story sequel, a Spider-Man sequel, a Minions sequel, and a Disney remake... 😅

But the success of Obsession and Backrooms will be bigger stories!

I think it’s worth noting that the stakes are higher for fans of these internet creators. The pressure for them to show up to support is way higher than for Star Wars who will survive beyond one movie underperforming

On 6/1/2026 at 4:05 AM, Ben Kendrick said:

It'll be interesting to see if it has any staying power. I think MOTU might KO it, given that early buzz on that one is it's fun - and something new.

The Mandalorian had a couple great seasons but it was the least popular it's ever been after the last season - so the idea that fans were going to turn up in droves for that story was a major miscalculation for Disney. Especially considering the final film (which I enjoyed enough) centers around a stoic guy that barely speaks, a babbling sidekick, and a giant space slug gladiator.

The movie really did just seem like a longer episode of the TV show - and, again, I don't think most viewers care about many of the Disney+ live-action Star Wars shows anymore.

Yeah, I think MOTU is the end of the road for Mando and Grogu.

I just hope Disney doesn't learn the wrong lesson here. I can already picture executives running wild and screaming, "Resurrect Luke! Bring Palpatine back!"

On 6/1/2026 at 5:51 AM, James Hunt said:

Agree with what's been said above, and that the streaming-to-theatrical pipeline demonstrably does not work (Brave New World, The Marvels, Mando... none did great business). It also doesn't really matter in this case: it did decent money opening weekend, which is basically a bonus for something that otherwise would've been made for Disney+, and the real test of the franchise is next year.

I also think it's very much worth celebrating the general state of the box office right now, because the more original (not that Backrooms truly is, but still), fresh stories that can make money, the more diversification we can get alongside the big franchise/IP stuff, and everyone can win. Feels like the healthiest we've seen it in quite some time and I hope that continues trending upward

I wonder if the streaming-to-theatrical model is over now, especially with Disney shifting back to prioritizing features. Doesn't seem like that worked all that well.

I can easily see Starfighter being a much bigger draw since it'll be a standalone thing and they'll have Gosling doing his whole thing on the press tour. Really, really smart move to cast him. I know Star Wars has avoided typical A-listers in the past, but it felt necessary here. Gosling and Amy Adams promoting a Star Wars movie.

23 minutes ago, ChrisA90 said:

I wonder if the streaming-to-theatrical model is over now, especially with Disney shifting back to prioritizing features. Doesn't seem like that worked all that well.

I can easily see Starfighter being a much bigger draw since it'll be a standalone thing and they'll have Gosling doing his whole thing on the press tour. Really, really smart move to cast him. I know Star Wars has avoided typical A-listers in the past, but it felt necessary here. Gosling and Amy Adams promoting a Star Wars movie.

Yeah, very much so. Certainly nothing that would seem to make any sense for Star Wars - even before TM&G, it felt like IF we were to get a Mandoverse crossover it'd be more likely on Disney+ (and probably just wrapped up in Ahsoka). Marvel... again, not much that would make sense. If they were to do a Midnight Sons movie then that might have elements of it, but it'd also have some big names that moviegoers know as well like Blade.

Agree on Starfighter. If that underperforms, I'll accept that Star Wars is in a really bad place and has huge questions about its future, because it definitely screams being more of an "event" and has a lot going for it, no obvious excuses like Mando has.