Disney 'Star Wars' Enters New Era as 'The Mandalorian and Grogu' Reportedly Low-Budget

The Star Wars franchise will return to the big screen next year with The Mandalorian and Grogu, Jon Favreau’s cinematic take on the iconic Disney+ series, The Mandalorian. While this may or may not be replacing the expected fourth season of the hit Disney+ show, for now, it’s the next step in the Mando-Verse.

The Mandalorian and Grogu, which will see the return of Pedro Pascal as Din Djarin, was surprisingly announced in January 2024, alongside another New Republic project, Ahsoka Season 2 from Dave Filoni. The announcement of the feature film came not a year after Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy revealed three additional projects would be coming down the pipeline.

Despite the movies from James Mangold, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, and Dave Filoni being set up at Star Wars Celebration 2023, Lucasfilm will lead its Star Wars slate with The Mandalorian and Grogu. Little is known about the plot of the movie, but fans can expect to see Star Wars franchise newcomers Sigourney Weaver (Alien) and The Bear star Jeremy Allen White reportedly as New Republic leader Colonel Bishop and Rotta the Hutt, respectively.

Slated for a May 22, 2026, release, the debut of The Mandalorian and Grogu will break the almost seven-year drought of Star Wars at the theaters. There hasn’t been a big screen release since J. J. Abrams’s 2019 Star Wars: Episode IX–The Rise of Skywalker, which concluded Disney’s divisive sequel trilogy.

Over the years, fans have begun to question the trajectory of Disney’s Star Wars franchise, but after refuting rumors of her retirement and exit from the studio, Kathleen Kennedy seemingly confirmed what’s coming on the horizon. The long-term movie executive stated that after The Mandalorian and Grogu, next up will be Shawn Levy’s movie.

The Levy-led picture is said to be a complete standalone and will star Academy Award-nominee Ryan Gosling, although no details have been officially released.

Before that, though, The Mandalorian will return, and new data suggests it could be a box office smash for The Walt Disney Company and Lucasfilm–but maybe not for the reason some may expect.

While it can be expected that The Mandalorian and Grogu will bring crowds to the movie theaters, there’s always the chance–as with any recent Disney property–that audiences will wait for the inevitable streaming debut of the film just a short while after its theatrical release. However, a recent report shows that The Mandalorian and Grogu may have budget on its side when it comes to pulling a profit at the box office next year.

“The Mandalorian and Grogu appears to have an overall production budget of $166.4 million and was the recipient of a bountiful tax credit from the state of California to the tune of $21.75 million, which certainly helped when it came to the bean counting at the end of the day,” Collider reports. “The figures were revealed by the California Film Commission.”

If correct, the $166 million budget is a drastic difference from the other Disney-era Star Wars movies and is likely helped by the use of The Volume in California.

The cheapest so far was Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) coming in 2016, with Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: Episode VIII–The Last Jedi (2017) was made to the tune of over $300 million. Interestingly, The Last Jedi was the most polarizing Star Wars movie ever made, and despite its $1.334 billion global box office haul, has continued to cause debate and discourse in the fandom.

The Mandalorian and Grogu, then, is already on good footing, having secured a dedicated fanbase throughout its many years on Disney’s streaming service. Being part of the growing New Republic era of storytelling, Jon Favreau’s movie is expected to also include Katee Sackhoff’s Bo-Katan Kryze, the character who grew to prominence in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and later in the third season of The Mandalorian.

As it stands, it seems that Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Tano will be unlikely to appear after the conclusion of Filoni’s Ahsoka series saw her trapped in another galaxy on the planet Peridea. With a new season in the works, Lucasfilm creatives will likely keep the next chapter of her story for her self-titled series.

Sometime in the future, Filoni will also direct a Mando-Verse movie, which seems to be looking like an “Avengers-level” event.

How do you feel about the low budget of The Mandalorian and Grogu? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!