When Disney and LucasFilm released “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” (from director J.J. Abrams) in December 2015, it opened to $248 million in North America — a record at the time — and totaled $936 million domestically, which is still a record. The very next December was spinoff “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”, directed by “Godzilla”’s Gareth Edwards and starring Oscar nominee Felicity Jones. It made $532 million — a significant $400 million decline in just one year, but still managed to be the highest grossing film of 2016.
And the December after that — 2017 — came Rian Johnson’s “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”, with a $620 million gross, enough to be the year’s No. 1 movie. Many were probably surprised that the next spinoff in the saga, “Solo: A Star Wars Story”, was a May 2018 release, not a December 2018 release. Mixed reviews and audience reaction, along with franchise fatigue and a director switching controversy (going from Phil Lord & Christopher Miller to Ron Howard) contributed to just $214 million domestically.
But here’s the thing — Disney was not going to open “Mary Poppins Returns” in Summer 2018. It had to be a Christmas / holiday season release. Yes, the original “Mary Poppins” premiered at the end of August in 1964, but “MPR” was destined to be an end of year movie. It didn’t make as much as “Solo” ($172 million), but this was still the right call.
The Mouse House went back to December, and back to J.J. Abrams, for 2019’s “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”. $515 million was certainly much more than “Solo”, though less than the other three, and behind the top two films from ’19, “Avengers: Endgame” and “The Lion King”.
“The Mandalorian and Grogu”, out May 22, marks the first “Star Wars” movie since “Skywalker” nearly six and a half years ago. It’s also Jon Favreau’s third directorial feature in a row for Disney, after 2016’s “The Jungle Book” and 2019’s “The Lion King” photorealistic remakes. And “TMAG” is a summer “Star Wars” return, after the underwhelming performance of “Solo”. But summer is the season that started it all for “SW” in 1977, and I think “The Mandalorian and Grogu” is going to do very well.
(Source: Box Office Mojo)