Is Disney Marketing Hurting THE MANDALORIAN & GROGU’s Big Screen Debut?

While I and plenty of other fans are incredibly excited to see Star Wars back in theaters, the road to the release of The Mandalorian & Grogu hasn’t exactly inspired confidence with a lot of people.

This movie should feel like a big exciting event! I mean, its the first Star Wars film to be released on the big screen since The Rise of Skywalker! Instead, the marketing rollout has sparked frustration, confusion, and a growing worry that excitement is being drained before tickets even go on sale.

Star Wars finally returns to the big screen this May with The Mandalorian & Grogu, directed by Jon Favreau, and that alone should’ve set the internet on fire. Instead, reactions to the Super Bowl TV spot were all over the place.

Some fans liked the vibe, others felt completely deflated. Disney appears to be copying the same strategy they used for Lilo & Stitch. That plan involved dropping a full trailer months in advance, following it with a lighter Super Bowl ad, and saving the heavy lifting for a final trailer closer to release.

Now, Lilo & Stitch did crossed did cross $1 billion, and its Super Bowl ad pulled in a massive 173.1 million views in its first 24 hours. Those are numbers anyone would want to chase. But, Star Wars fans are a different beast.

The first trailer for The Mandalorian & Grogu dropped a few months ago, and while tracking trailer views is always messy thanks to reposts, you can still get a rough picture by looking at the main uploads across YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, X, and TikTok.

Facebook was the strongest platform with 68 million views. Across all major platforms combined, the trailer has reached about 131.5 million views in four months.

That doesn’t sound terrible until you compare it to another nostalgia driven action property. Just two weeks ago, the new Masters of the Universe trailer hit online and immediately outpaced The Mandalorian & Grogu on several platforms.

On TikTok alone, Masters of the Universe pulled in 56.3 million views, compared to 27.5 million for the Star Wars film. In just fourteen days, it racked up 120.5 million total views. That comparison makes one thing pretty clear. The first Mandalorian & Grogu trailer didn’t connect the way it needed to.

Timing isn’t helping either. Star Wars engagement has taken a hit in recent years. Part of that comes from brand fatigue, and part of it comes from inconsistent quality on Disney+.

The Mandalorian Season 3 landed with a 51% Rotten Tomatoes audience score, which is a sharp drop from Season 1’s 93% and Season 2’s 91%. On top of that, Pixar has already shown that audiences don’t automatically show up to theaters for franchises they associate with streaming. That makes strong marketing even more important.

Fans wanted a big proper trailer, and that is coming. But the marketing for this movie needed to be strong right out of the gate. Since the first trailer was released, interest in the film has died down a lot.

As of this writing, the Super Bowl spot hasn’t come close to matching Lilo & Stitch’s performance. It hasn’t even cracked 1.5 million views on YouTube after twelve hours.

Disney has defended the approach. Lucasfilm’s marketing brand lead Ryan Stankevich explained the thinking behind the ad, saying:

“Our creative and marketing team landed on a unique concept that gave a nod to classic Big Game spots of years past. It captured the warmth, humor, and emotional connection between these two beloved characters and was the perfect next step for our campaign as we lead up to their big screen debut this summer.”

Disney executive VP of creative marketing Jackson George doubled down on the idea that Grogu himself is the main draw.

“Grogu is more than a character; he’s a pop culture phenomenon. Riding alongside the heroic Mandalorian, he brings lightness, humor, joy, and an instant emotional connection that transcends the moment.

“This Big Game spot celebrates how deeply we love and connect with these characters, reminds us of the fun, heart, and spectacle that defines Star Wars, and offers a bite-sized promise of the experience audiences will get when they see these two beloved icons on the big screen.”

That explanation makes the strategy clear. Lucasfilm truly believes Grogu is so iconic that he doesn’t need much selling. Considering how much Grogu merch exists in the world, that belief isn’t totally wild.

The problem is that the general audience doesn’t seem to be reacting the way Disney hoped. Yes, The Mandalorian & Grogu trended on X after the Super Bowl ad dropped, but most of that conversation was about whether the marketing worked at all, not excitement for the movie itself.

There’s also some uncomfortable history here. Back in 2018, Disney and Lucasfilm treated Star Wars like a brand that marketed itself. Most of the promotional focus went to Avengers: Infinity War, leaving Solo: A Star Wars Story with a weak campaign.

The result was the first true Star Wars box office disappointment. Solo had some issues, but I loved it! Regardless, former Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy has said audiences weren’t ready for a Han Solo recast, but poor marketing is still widely viewed as a major reason it failed.

To be clear, The Mandalorian & Grogu probably won’t flop. Reports suggest the budget sits around $166.4 million, which is relatively modest for a Star Wars movie. It doesn’t need to break records to turn a profit.

This could be a new model for the franchise. A cheaper theatrical release that later thrives on streaming. But Star Wars returning to theaters after seven years should feel bigger than that. Even a decent box office run could still feel like a letdown.

Right now, the marketing pitch feels thin. I think the marketing team is going about this the wrong way. They are simply thinking, you watched these characters on Disney+. You bought the Grogu toys. Now go see them on a giant screen. Well, that isn’t enough.

There is a smart way to build hype for this movie and they didn’t take that road. Now, the next trailer for The Mandalorian & Grogu needs to do real work and all the heavy lifting. It needs to show why this adventure matters and why it belongs in a theater instead of feeling like an extended Disney+ episode.

They don’t need to spell out the plot of story, the marketing team just needs to be smart in getting fans hyped for Star Wars again!

Lucasfilm famously kept Grogu a secret during The Mandalorian Season 1, and it paid off. But those early trailers still sold the idea of a fresh, exciting Star Wars story. The surprise worked because the foundation was strong. Right now, what’s being sold feels like more of the same, and that’s not enough to pull casual audiences off the couch.

A lot is riding on that final trailer, and that’s not an ideal place to be. As someone who’s loved Star Wars my entire life, I want this movie to succeed! I want it to prove Star Wars can still own the big screen! I’m confident Jon Favreau made an awesome Star Wars movie, but will fans flock to theaters to watch it!?

At the moment, though, it feels like marketing mistakes are putting that at risk. Hopefully Lucasfilm sticks the landing, word of mouth kicks in, and The Mandalorian & Grogu ends up being a surprise win instead of a cautionary tale.