The Memorial Day weekend box office delivered another major boost for Hollywood as The Mandalorian and Grogu launched with a strong $82 million three-day opening and an estimated $102 million across the extended four-day holiday frame in North America.
Directed by Jon Favreau, the film marks the first theatrical Star Wars release in nearly seven years following 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker. Internationally, the Disney blockbuster earned another $64 million from 51 overseas territories, bringing its global debut to approximately $165 million.
While the opening is considered solid by post-pandemic standards, industry observers are closely analyzing the numbers because the film now stands as the lowest domestic opening for a Disney-era Star Wars movie. The launch performed similarly to 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story, though analysts note major differences between the two projects.
Unlike Solo, which suffered from weak reviews and poor audience reception, The Mandalorian and Grogu has earned significantly stronger word-of-mouth. The film received an “A-” CinemaScore from audiences and carries a far leaner production budget of around $165 million compared to Solo’s nearly $300 million cost.
The movie is also viewed as an important test for the future of Star Wars on the big screen after years of Disney prioritizing streaming series such as Andor, Ahsoka, and The Book of Boba Fett on Disney+.
Meanwhile, Michael continued its remarkable box office run with another $20 million domestically over the weekend and an estimated $25.7 million through Monday during its fifth weekend in theaters.
The Michael Jackson biopic has now grossed $319 million domestically and an enormous $788 million globally. With Japan still left to release, the film is now positioned to potentially surpass Bohemian Rhapsody ($911 million) and become the highest-grossing musical biopic in cinema history.
The film’s continued performance has become one of the year’s biggest box office stories, especially because of its unusually strong theatrical legs weeks after release.
Disney also scored another major success with The Devil Wears Prada 2, which crossed the $600 million global milestone after four weekends in theaters. The sequel earned another $12.6 million domestically over the weekend and now stands at approximately $604 million worldwide.
One of the biggest surprises of the holiday frame came from Focus Features’ horror breakout Obsession, directed by Curry Barker. The film jumped nearly 30% in its second weekend — a rare feat for a wide-release horror movie — and has now earned $58.5 million domestically and $74 million globally within just 11 days of release.
Elsewhere, Paramount’s horror thriller Passenger opened softly with $8.7 million domestically over the three-day weekend and approximately $10.5 million through Monday despite its modest $15 million production budget.
I Love Boosters from filmmaker Boots Riley also struggled commercially despite strong critical reviews, opening to only $3.8 million during the weekend frame.
Family mystery adventure The Sheep Detectives continued showing strong holds at the domestic box office as well, contributing to an overall Memorial Day frame that generated roughly $221 million across all films in North America.
For studios and theater owners, the strong turnout reinforced optimism heading into the crucial summer movie season, especially as audiences continue supporting a broad mix of franchise blockbusters, musical biopics, horror films, and crowd-pleasing theatrical releases.
| Rank | Film | Domestic Total |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Mandalorian and Grogu | $81.9M |
| 2 | Obsession | $52.7M |
| 3 | Michael | $314.2M |
| 4 | The Devil Wears Prada 2 | $196.1M |
| 5 | The Sheep Detectives | $43.5M |
| 6 | Passenger | $8.7M |
| 7 | Mortal Kombat II | $72.7M |
| 8 | I Love Boosters | $3.7M |
| 9 | The Super Mario Galaxy Movie | $423.6M |
| 10 | Project Hail Mary | $339.6M |
Note- Box office numbers are subject to change with more updates
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