A galaxy far, far away finally returned to the big screen this year, but it didn’t exactly garner the reception that Disney and Lucasfilm had been hoping for. “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” which hit theaters back in May, marked the first theatrical “Star Wars” project since the world was left divided over Rey Skywalker and Emperor Palpatine’s don’t-call-it-a-comeback in 2019’s “Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker.” Was it a failure? Not necessarily, but it wasn’t what the glorious homecoming that its corporate bosses would have preferred, either. As it stands, “The Mandalorian and Grogu” is currently the lowest-grossing live-action “Star Wars” film of all time, even behind the infamous flop that was 2018’s “Solo: A Star Wars Story.”
On the plus side, director Jon Favreau’s feature-length continuation of his popular Disney+ series “The Mandalorian” cost way less to make than “Solo.” (As it turns out, there’s an upside to not firing your directors partway into filming.) Couple that with all the merchandise sales for Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and his young green son’s film debut, and “The Mandalorian and Grogu” will undoubtedly prove profitable for the Mouse House, at least in the long run. If nothing else, the movie’s theatrical run served as great publicity for its eventual arrival on streaming. In the meantime, though, you can either rent or buy the film on digital starting July 21, 2026, with the movie hitting physical media roughly a month later on August 25.
The Mandalorian and Grogu is headed to the home market, complete with bonus features
Giant monster brawls, whiz-bang shoot-outs, and Martin Scorsese as a bushy-eyebrowed alien fry cook? “The Mandalorian and Grogu” brings the “Star Wars” movies at large back to their pulp swashbuckler roots (Scorsese cameo aside, anyway), ditching the tiresome storylines from the final season of “The Mandalorian” for a standalone plot, vigorous action, and dynamic set pieces propelled by Ludwig Göransson’s outstanding score (which uses all sorts of instrumentation to create music perfect for everything from a seedy, neon-lit city-planet to tranquil swamplands). It’s just, well, the film’s lack of distinct themes, flat character arcs, and repetitive, clangy dialogue that leaves it feeling smooth-brained (or “mundane,” to quote Jeremy Mathai’s review for /Film).
Then again, it’s hard not to appreciate the genuinely loving bond between the movie’s masked himbo hero and his zany tiny puppet companion, and the dollop of heart that Mando and Grogu bring to the table remains the glue holding this enterprise together. The physical media package for “The Mandalorian and Grogu” will also include several bonus features (namely, “Crafting ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu,'” “Biomes — From Snow to Swamp,” “Welcome to Shakari,” and “Dejarik for Real”) detailing the time and effort that its crew poured into realizing the film’s imaginative, fantastical settings though a mix of CGI, puppetry, complex sound design, and miniatures. That’s all the more reason to pick this one up on DVD and Blu-ray if you’re so inclined. (Physical media is the way, after all.)
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