The Mandalorian and Grogu opens below Solo in weakest Disney-era Star Wars debut

Disney’s latest “Star Wars” movie opened with the weakest three-day domestic debut among its new theatrical releases in the franchise — even as the House of Mouse looks beyond ticket sales to merchandise, Disney+ and theme parks tied to the series.“The Mandalorian and Grogu” hauled in an estimated $82 million domestically over its first three days in theaters, according to CNBC, topping analysts’ initial $80 million projections.But the debut came in below 2018’s “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” which opened to $84 million and was at the time the lowest-opening project of the Disney “Star Wars” era, according to Comscore data cited by CNBC.“The Mandalorian” marked the first new “Star Wars” movie to hit theaters in seven years.Analysts expect it to top $100 million domestically over the four-day Memorial Day weekend, CNBC reported.Internationally, the film took in about $63 million.IMAX and Dolby Cinema accounted for 41% of tickets sold, according to EntTelligence data cited by CNBC.Standard tickets averaged $16.01, while premium tickets averaged $19.43, the data company reported.The film is based on Disney+’s hit series “The Mandalorian,” which CNBC said is the most-watched original show on the streaming service, with more than 1.3 billion hours watched globally.CNBC reported that Disney’s strategy around the franchise includes merchandise, streaming and theme parks in addition to ticket sales.“Star Wars” generates more than $1 billion in retail sales each year, even without a new theatrical release, CNBC reported.At Disney’s domestic theme parks, the company updated its “Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run” ride with a new Grogu mission and brought BDX droids from the film back to Disneyland’s “Galaxy’s Edge” area.Disney has also been leaning on its partnership with Epic Games, with “Fortnite” adding new “Star Wars” environments, characters, vehicles and purchasable cosmetics tied to the release.Official box-...