Lucasfilm announced plans for The Mandalorian & Grogu last month and we now have an update on what will eventually be the first Star Wars movie to arrive in theaters since 2019's The Rise of Skywalker.
Bespin Bulletin has now shared an update, revealing that Din Djarin and The Child's big screen debut will shoot from June to October. That's a four-month window and a little shorter than the six months devoted to The Mandalorian season 3.
You'd think this would mean The Mandalorian & Grogu would be ready for a 2025 theatrical release but, as of now, it looks like 2026 is still the plan. Lucasfilm has never rushed the show's post-production process, so perhaps we shouldn't be surprised the same will apply to this movie.
The site also reveals that, while Mando is heading to theaters, the budget will be less than an eight-episode season. The Mandalorian season 1 is thought to have come in at $15 million per episode and we'd be willing to bet the costs have only increased since then; either way, the site believes the costs will total $120 million or less.
Disney is looking to move away from $250+ million blockbusters and won't want a repeat of The Rise of Skywalker a movie which ended up boasting a bloated $300 million price tag. Now that Disney+ has all those subscribers locked in, an argument could be made that it doesn't make sense to keep producing a costly series like The Mandalorian to get them to stick around; then again, that back catalogue will only hold people's attention for so long.
As for where this leaves The Mandalorian season 4, the site adds, "All signs currently point towards it just being The Mandalorian and Grogu entering production in just four months time. I don’t see the fourth season being filmed and completed ahead of the start of The Mandalorian and Grogu, even if it were less episodes."
It's previously been rumoured that Favreau's scripts for that next batch of episodes evolved into a movie after last year's WGA strikes. However, as The Mandalorian is such a big draw on Disney+, season 4 could still follow somewhere down the line. Only time will tell.
"I have loved telling stories set in the rich world that George Lucas created," Favreau said in a statement when news of these movie plans first broke. "The prospect of bringing the Mandalorian and his apprentice Grogu to the big screen is extremely exciting."
Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy added, "Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni have ushered into Star Wars two new and beloved characters, and this new story is a perfect fit for the big screen."
Disney needs some guaranteed box office hits after a rough couple of years and The Mandalorian & Grogu is bound to succeed in that respect. Both characters are massively popular with hardcore and casual fans, and it will be interesting to see what sort of story this movie tells and whether it justifies the leap from streaming to theaters.