Baby Yoda re-sets ‘Star Wars’ films with $165 million global opening

Daily Maverick · 🇿🇦 public South Africa · May 25, 2026 · 362 words · By Reuters

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What to know about Baby Yoda re-sets ‘Star Wars’ films with $165 million global opening

By Lisa Richwine The movie topped box office charts in the United States and Canada, where it was expected to bring in about $102-million.

Claims checked 14

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center80%

Right20%

5 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

By Lisa Richwine The movie topped box office charts in the United States and Canada, where it was expected to bring in about $102-million.

Why it matters

That would edge abovepre-weekend forecasts for Friday through Monday but rank as the smallest opening for any “Star Wars” film under Disney.

Common ground

The new film cost much less to make than other “Star Wars” installments, setting a lower bar for profitability.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: Baby Yoda re-sets ‘Star Wars’ films with $165 million global opening?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that Disney’s lowest-grossing “Star Wars” film, “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” brought in $103-million over the 2018 Memorial Day weekend?
What happens next if the deal stalls, and who has the power to restart talks?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-05-25-baby-yoda-re-sets-star-wars-f…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 14 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 6

schedule Pending 4

help Insufficient Evidence 2

verified Verified By Reference 1

info Single Source 1

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Claim 1: “Disney’s lowest-grossing “Star Wars” film, “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” brought in $103-million over the 2018 Memorial Day weekend”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

The claim states 'Solo' brought in $103 million over the 2018 Memorial Day weekend, but the evidence from a news source explicitly states 'Solo' opened to $84 million over that weekend.

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web search NEUTRAL — 3 days ago ... TheMandalorianAndGrogu has earned $12M in previews, coming in $2.1M behind “Solo: A Star Wars Story.” wp.me/pc8uak-1lHiMi • “The Mandalorian ...
https://www.facebook.com/Variety/posts/themandalorianandgrog…

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web search NEUTRAL — 13 hours ago ... Prior to this weekend, that unfortunate distinction belonged to 2018's spinoff “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” which opened to $84 million over the ...
https://www.jedinews.com/film-music-tv/articles/the-mandalor…

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web search NEUTRAL — Despite this, it was the first Star Wars film to be a box-office bomb, grossing $393 million worldwide.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solo:_A_Star_Wars_Story

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Claim 2: “costing about $165-million to make rather than the typical $300 million-plus”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources (THR via web search and other reports) cite the production budget as approximately $165 million.

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web search NEUTRAL — Grogu toys, since the launch of the Disney+ series, count 13 million toys sold during their first two years of release.Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu had a reported production budget of $165 to $1…
https://deadline.com/2026/05/box-office-mandalorian-and-grog…

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web search NEUTRAL — The Mandalorian and Grogu is made on an estimated budget of $165 million, according to THR. This implies it would need to earn around $412.5 million to break even at the box office, using the commonly…
https://www.koimoi.com/hollywood-news/star-wars-the-mandalor…

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web search NEUTRAL — ‘Mandalorian and Grogu’ Flies to a Steady $165 Million Global Box Office Opening. 6 hours ago.Jon Favreau says the movie-level budget for ‘THE MANDALORIAN & GROGU’ allowed them to bring creatures to l…
https://news.google.com/stories/CAAqNggKIjBDQklTSGpvSmMzUnZj…

schedule

Claim 3: ““Star Wars” debuted in 1977”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 4: “became one of the highest-grossing movie franchises of all time with more than $10-billion in global ticket sales”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 5: ““Mandalorian and Grogu,” the first “Star Wars” movie in seven years”

CORROBORATED

Five independent cross-references (Flipboard, NYPost, EuroNews, CNBC) and Wikipedia all confirm this is the first Star Wars film in seven years.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu (called The Mandalorian and Grogu on screen) is a 2026 American science fiction film directed by Jon Favreau, who co-wrote the film with Dave Filoni and Noah Kloor…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mandalorian_and_Grogu

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Star Wars franchise has spawned multiple films and television series. Two animated series were released in the mid-1980s. Further animated series began to be released in the 2000s, the first two o…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Wars_television_s…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Din Grogu () or simply Grogu, colloquially referred to as Baby Yoda, is a character from the Star Wars Disney+ original television series The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. He is an infant mem…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grogu

+ 5 more evidence sources

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Claim 6: “it was expected to bring in about $102-million”

CORROBORATED

One source explicitly mentions the movie lifted off with $102 million over the weekend, aligning with the projection/result mentioned in the claim.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Mandalorian, also known as Star Wars: The Mandalorian, is an American space Western television series created by Jon Favreau for the streaming service Disney+. It is the first live-action series i…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mandalorian

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+ 3 more evidence sources

verified

Claim 7: “The duo debuted on television in the Disney+ streaming series “The Mandalorian” in 2019”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

Wikipedia entries for 'The Mandalorian' and 'Grogu' confirm the characters debuted in the Disney+ series in 2019.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — The third season of the American television series The Mandalorian is part of the Star Wars franchise, set after the events of the film Return of the Jedi (1983). It continues the story of a bounty hu…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mandalorian_season_3

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+ 3 more evidence sources

help

Claim 8: “Verified moviegoers gave the movie an 89% positive score, compared with 62% of critics, according to the Rotten Tomatoes website”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found in the provided search results regarding Rotten Tomatoes scores for this movie.

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Claim 9: “The movie topped box office charts in the United States and Canada”

CORROBORATED

Multiple web search results explicitly state that 'Mandalorian and Grogu' topped the charts in the U.S. and Canada, with one source citing $82 million in ticket sales.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — 17 hours ago ... Studio estimates on Sunday say “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu,” has made $82 million in ticket sales in the U.S. and Canada over the ...
https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/entertainment/article/box-o…

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web search NEUTRAL — 18 hours ago ... After nearly seven years away from the big screen, a new Star Wars movie drew healthy but not record-breaking crowds to global theaters this ...
https://www.usnews.com/news/entertainment/articles/2026-05-2…

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web search NEUTRAL — Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu is a 2026 American science fiction film directed by Jon Favreau, who co-wrote the film with Dave Filoni and Noah Kloor.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mandalorian_and_Grogu

schedule

Claim 10: “The next movie, “Star Wars: Starfighter” featuring Ryan Gosling, is scheduled to hit cinemas in May 2027”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info

Claim 11: “More than 13-million Grogu toys were sold in the first two years after the TV series debuted”

SINGLE SOURCE

Only one specific web search result mentions the figure of 13 million Grogu toys sold in the first two years; other sources do not mention toy sales.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — 3 hours ago ... The character is also featured in the film The Mandalorian and Grogu. The puppet was designed by Legacy Effects. Actor Adam Pally has stated that showrunner Jon ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grogu

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web search NEUTRAL — 18 hours ago ... Baby Yoda brought crowds to movie theaters over the U.S. Memorial Day weekend, putting "Star Wars" film "The Mandalorian and Grogu" on ...
https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/disneys-new-star-wars-film…

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web search NEUTRAL — 2 hours ago ... 'THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU' has earned $145M in its worldwide opening weekend at the box office. The latest Star Wars film kicked off its ...
https://www.facebook.com/FirstCuriosity/posts/the-mandaloria…

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Claim 12: “rank as the smallest opening for any “Star Wars” film under Disney”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm it had the lowest opening for a Disney Star Wars film, specifically mentioning it failed to surpass the opening of 'Solo'.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Star Wars: Starfighter is an upcoming American space opera film directed by Shawn Levy and written by Jonathan Tropper. Produced by Lucasfilm and 21 Laps Entertainment, and set to be distributed by Wa…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_Starfighter

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+ 3 more evidence sources

schedule

Claim 13: “Disney purchased the franchise from creator George Lucas in 2012”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 14: “Disney put new “Star Wars” movies on hold after 2019’s “The Rise of Skywalker””

CORROBORATED

Web search results indicate Disney shifted focus or removed other projects (like Rey Skywalker) from the slate after the sequels and Solo, effectively putting theatrical films on hold until this release.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Sep 28, 2025 ... According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lucasfilm has shifted its focus to 'The Mandalorian & Grogu', a new Star Wars movie directed by Jon Favreau ...
https://www.facebook.com/comicbookdotcom/posts/after-what-ha…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Nov 16, 2024 ... Disney removes 'Rey Skywalker Star Wars' movie from 2026 slate - Last year, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy said the new film would follow Rey as she ...
https://www.reddit.com/r/scifi/comments/1gsq18u/disney_remov…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — The film is set to release in 2027, and at the time of announcement was already in production. Just this week, Lucasfilm announced the official casting, which ...
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10300394/news/

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.