Mando Comes Home
The Mandalorian & Grogu on TV
We will soon be able to watch The Mandalorian’s adventures with his adopted son Grogu on the small screen. Imagine that! Watching these two in the comfort of your own home! I daren’t hope!
The movie will hit digital platforms next Tuesday, July 21st (I preordered it on Apple, because that’s my little sealed ecosystem of digital stuff); and physical release will follow closely on August 25th. There’s the Beskar Collector’s Edition with lots of bells and whistles, the Steelbook 4k/Blu-ray, the standard packaging 4K and Blu-ray, the standalone Blu-ray, and even a DVD release. What, no VHS? You can read all about it on the official Star Wars website here.
Note about the press release? It’s the first time I’ve seen them return, in this movie’s marketing to the Skywalker Saga.“The Star Wars franchise’s cinematic return after the end of the Skywalker Saga.”
And, just to go here, because why not: The Mandalorian & Grogu didn’t last very long in theaters and it’s the lowest ever worldwide box office performer of the live action Star Wars films. It didn’t do badly compared to a normal movie, but it isn’t one. It certainly can’t be seen as anything but a lesser effort at the box office.
Before we declare this some kind of verdict on Star Wars as a brand, though, let’s look at the wider landscape: just about every old fashioned blockbuster except Toy Story 5 has under-performed. Supergirl, Minions, Moana, and Masters of the Universe were all surprise underperformers. It’s pretty clear that for most movie-goers, with high inflation, lots of home viewing options, and the ability to watch just about anything shortly in their living rooms, something has to really demand to be seen on the big screen. Toy Story 5 has incredible reviews and it’s the first Toy Story in seven years. Mando’s reviews were solid but not effusive, and we’ve seen a lot of its prominent characters over the past few years. They’re small-screen natives trying to expand. I wouldn’t be surprised if the next Star Wars film does a whole lot better than this one did, just because it will offer something new.
Because what has excited young crowds? Horror movies and stories that have emerged from their popular culture, like YouTube. Backrooms (which is a lot of fun!) and Obsession (which is a super bloody Twilight Zone episode about how afraid everyone is of rejection): both conversation-worthy movies. (Still, even those two movies are already available to watch in your living room.)
So should we take the very quick home release of this new Star Wars movie as any kind of measure of its performance? Not really. The Rise of Skywalker, by way of comparison, was released on digital platforms three months after its release. Revenge of the Sith? Came out on DVD six months after it was released in theaters. So did Attack of the Clones. But Episode I? Was the first Star Wars DVD release, and it came out nearly two years after it was released in theaters. It didn’t come out on Blu-ray, which was a new format, until 2011. This is all to say, the windows have been getting shorter and shorter, regardless of how the movie does in cinemas. I do wonder if studios push-pull relationship with streaming is cannibalizing their own success in cinemas? But that’s about my pay grade.
For me? I’m just excited. 90% of the life of any Star Wars movie is, of course, it’s life at home. That’s why seeing it in the movies is so special: it’s rare. So this just brings this latest film into the ever expanding collection of Star Wars movies I can fire up whenever I feel like it. Cozy and familiar, as it should be.
Are you planning to pick up the physical media when they’re released? Or just watch it digitally? Or wait for Disney+ because, I mean, the price of gasoline means don’t spend money you don’t have to spend?
As for me, I’m going to get the Beskar version and probably open it once, and pre-order the digital version that’s available next Tuesday because I don’t want to wait for Disney+.
Time to reorder my shelves! Here comes Grogu!