Disney and Lucasfilm dropped the final trailer and poster for The Mandalorian & Grogu, the first Star Wars live-action movie since 2019. That’s a long time, and if I’m being honest, expanding hit series The Mandalorian into a feature film doesn’t seem like the best idea. But, I guess if you’re desperate to bring fans back, piggybacking on most popular Disney+ show you’ve got isn’t the worst thing in the world.
This comes after a select number of press were able to check out the opening 15 minutes at CinemaCon. The footage finds Din Djarin and Grogu chasing down a crime boss through an icy landscape, which is where we get those cool promo shoots of the At-At Walkers tumbling down mountains. I’ve heard mixed things, overall, but a movie isn’t defined by its opening minutes.
Director Jon Favreau also took a few minutes to appear on Puck’s podcast, where he talked about how he had to approach the film differently than he did the TV series because it’s potentially a brand new audience…
“You gotta deliver something that the audience enjoys regardless of the medium,” Favreau said. “We have to treat it like the first season and the first episode of ‘The Mandalorian, ‘which is don’t assume anybody’s seen anything, but also make it clear to the people who’ve been with ‘Star Wars’ for 50 years that this is something that is for them.”
He continued, “Star Wars hasn’t been in theaters for almost seven years. There are audience members who were not old enough to know ‘Star Wars’ in the theater. We have to invite those fans in. We have to make them feel the way that I felt when I first saw ‘Star Wars.’ There’s a feeling that ‘Star Wars’ gives you on the big screen when it’s done well. And that’s what we concentrated on, really delivering that feeling.”
That feeling is clearly one of nostalgia, and you can see it not only in the trailers but in the new poster, which is a clear callback to Yoda and his time on Dagobah.
The Mandalorian & Grogu hits theaters on May 22nd.
