One of the biggest talking points surrounding the release of Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu was that maybe it would’ve been a better fit on Disney+ than it was in theaters. And yet, now that the film has debuted on streaming, the reaction is less cut and dried than that.
After a more than generous three-plus-month window since its May 22 theatrical debut, The Mandalorian and Grogu hit Disney+ on September 2. According to Nielsen, it was viewed for about 727 million minutes during its first week, August 31-September 6, which was good enough for second place among all movies on streaming. The film it lost to was Netflix’s The Whisper Man, an original film starring Adam Scott and Robert De Niro. That was streamed for 863 million minutes during the same week.
So how does 727 million minutes stack up? Well, it kind of depends on how you look at it, so let’s take a few different angles. First, when comparing it directly to The Whisper Man, you have to consider that Netflix has more overall subscribers than Disney+, it was out the entire week in question instead of just four days, and it is an original movie. No one had the chance to see The Whisper Man in a wide, theatrical release. So losing to that by over 100 million minutes makes sense. In fact, it was probably expected, especially since The Mandalorian and Grogu was only available for part of the week.
The most recent streaming comp for Star Wars itself was Andor season two, which ended last summer. That show’s three-episode finale was streamed for 931 million minutes its first week, the largest viewership ever for that show. That’s obviously way, way more than Mandalorian and Grogu, but, again, Andor was an original show. You could only have watched it on Disney+. Also, just to give a sense of how Star Wars does on streaming as a whole, in 2025 the entirety of the Star Wars franchise was streamed for 33 billion minutes.
So what about against other summer 2026 movies? Well, one recent film that made headlines was MGM’s Masters of the Universe, which was viewed for 1.17 billion minutes over its first week of release. That’s almost 500 million minutes more than Star Wars, which seems considerable. But it’s worth noting, Masters of the Universe had a much shorter window between theatrical release and streaming debut. It took about six weeks versus about 14 for Mandalorian and Grogu. That’s a huge leg up in terms of streaming because the film is still fresher in people’s minds and makes them feel as if they’re watching something that’s still in theaters. Which, at that point, Masters probably was.
Plus, The Mandalorian and Grogu was significantly more successful at the box office than Masters, grossing $178 million versus Masters‘ $65 million. Many, many more people saw The Mandalorian in theaters, so they didn’t need to rush to streaming.
So, while there are logical explanations for The Mandalorian and Grogu‘s comparison in all three examples, in all three examples it came up short. Much like it did during its theatrical run. And the easiest way to explain both is that while the film certainly has its fans, at no point did it generate the kind of “must-see” buzz you’d expect from a Star Wars property. At least now, though, we can all give it another shot whenever we’d like.
The Mandalorian and Grogu is now streaming on Disney+. Have you watched/rewatched it yet?
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