The Mandalorian & Grogu Reportedly Has Only a Fraction of Rise of Skywalker’s Budget

The Star Wars franchise is looking to continue expanding the era of The Mandalorian with the imaginatively titled The Mandalorian & Grogu. However, unlike many other movies in the Star Wars saga, and indeed the world of big franchise movies in general, the film will reportedly not be getting the $300 million plus budget given to the likes of The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker.

According to The Bespin Bulletin, this new chapter in the Star Wars saga will operate on a budget not exceeding $120 million, a stark contrast to the hefty price tags they have been used to in the past. With the first season of TheMandalorian itself costing around $15 million per episode, totaling the same $120 million, perhaps the budget should not be seen as a bad thing. When taking into account that this will be a 2-hour movie as opposed to a full 6-7 hour season, it is perhaps hard to consider this kind of budget being “too low” to make a successful movie in a time when films have been spending massive amounts of money that have been heavily criticized and become box office failures all the same.

Set to commence filming in Los Angeles on June 17, 2024, The Mandalorian & Grogu is an unexpected chapter in the timeline of The Mandalorian. While many were expecting news about Season 4 of the show, the announcement last month that a full-fledged movie directed by Jon Favreau was heading into production instead took many by surprise and raised a lot of questions about whether this replaces the show’s fourth season or is in addition to it.

Is The Mandalorian Season 4 Still Happening?

Lucasfilm Chief Creative Officer Dave Filoni has expressed plenty of enthusiasm for the project, lauding Favreau’s deep understanding of the Star Wars universe, which is probably only second to that of Filoni himself. However, when it comes to those questions about The Mandalorian Season 4, the CCO was not exactly willing to give a definite answer. In an interview shared on X, Filoni said:

“There’s so much spinning in the galaxy right now. You know me better than to commit to any one thing. No mind trick works on me. So, you know. I think I’m excited about what we’re doing right now.”

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Scheduled for a December 18, 2026 release, The Mandalorian & Grogu seems to be tapping into one of the most popular strands of the Star Wars franchise, but whether that translates into a strong response when the movie is released is an entirely different ball game. Season 3 of The Mandalorian seemed to be sub-par for many fans following the release of shows such as Andor, and with plenty of other Star Wars movies and shows in various stages of development, it may be that the time of The Mandalorian may run out of steam before Dave Filoni’s upcoming movie that will reportedly be the end of this particular era of the franchise.