‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ Just Quietly Posted One of the Weakest Disney+ Streaming Debuts of the Franchise Era

Disney has leaned harder into Nielsen viewership data over the past few years as a way to contextualize its streaming performance beyond simple box office totals, and the pattern has become fairly predictable: theatrical hits translate into strong Disney+ debuts, while underperformers tend to fizzle out just as quietly online. That pattern held true again this month for one of the year’s most closely watched franchise releases.

‘The Mandalorian and Grogu‘ arrived in theaters back in May carrying the weight of being the first live-action ‘Star Wars’ film in seven years, and it left with a complicated legacy at the box office, grossing $345.8 million worldwide and becoming the lowest-grossing live-action entry in the franchise’s history. That underwhelming theatrical run set up an important question heading into its Disney+ debut: would streaming numbers tell a different story.

According to Nielsen data, the answer is largely no. ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ opened to the equivalent of 5.5 million complete views in its first five days on Disney+ in the US, a figure that places it firmly in the lower half of recent theatrical live-action releases on the platform rather than among its top performers.

That number ties it almost exactly with Marvel’s ‘Thunderbolts*,’ which also opened to 5.5 million views in its own first five days on the service. For a franchise as historically dominant as ‘Star Wars,’ landing in a virtual tie with a mid-tier Marvel ensemble film rather than clearing the pack entirely is a notable result.

Looking at the broader chart of Pay-1 theatrical live-action releases on Disney+, ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’s’ 5.5 million views lands well below several of the platform’s stronger recent performers. ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ tops the list with 14.1 million views in its first five days, followed by ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ at 10.9 million and ‘The Little Mermaid’ at 10.2 million.

Even ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ and ‘Eternals,’ both films that received mixed critical reception, still outpaced ‘Mandalorian and Grogu’ with 9.7 million and 9.2 million views respectively. Further down the list, titles like ‘Haunted Mansion’ at 8.1 million and ‘Lilo & Stitch’ at 7.4 million also landed comfortably ahead of the new ‘Star Wars’ release.

The films sitting closest to ‘Mandalorian and Grogu’ on the chart tell their own story. ‘Snow White’ and ‘The Marvels,’ two of Disney’s more infamous recent box office disappointments, each posted 5.3 million views, essentially matching the ‘Star Wars’ spinoff’s numbers. ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ and ‘Black Widow’ also cluster nearby with 5.2 million and 5.1 million views respectively.

This streaming performance largely mirrors what played out during the film’s theatrical run. ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ opened domestically with a three-day total around $82 million before climbing to roughly $102 million over the four-day Memorial Day weekend, numbers that landed close to 2018’s ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story,’ historically the franchise’s weakest domestic performer under Disney ownership.

The film wasn’t without bright spots along the way, earning an A- CinemaScore and a strong 89% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes’ Popcornmeter, suggesting the people who did see it generally liked what they got. But strong audience sentiment clearly wasn’t enough to translate into a standout streaming debut once the film reached Disney+ on September 2.

A new journey begins.

Watch the big game spot and see The Mandalorian and Grogu only in theaters and IMAX May 22. pic.twitter.com/5M0MKbJFqr

— Star Wars (@starwars) February 8, 2026

For context on just how far ‘Mandalorian and Grogu’ sits from the platform’s biggest hits, it’s worth noting that only two titles on the full ranking landed below it: ‘Freakier Friday’ at 3.4 million views and ‘Tron: Ares’ at 2.2 million, both films that similarly struggled to find traction with audiences beyond their opening weekends.

With Disney continuing to treat these Nielsen figures as a meaningful gauge of a title’s staying power, ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’s’ streaming numbers add another data point to a rocky rollout for the franchise’s long-awaited return to theaters. Whether that translates into any rethinking of future ‘Star Wars’ theatrical plans remains to be seen, but the numbers make clear that this particular chapter didn’t land the crossover moment Disney was likely hoping for.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments.