It looks as if The Mandalorian and Grogu might be having a rough go of it.  The movie came in at #6 last weekend behind a few horror shows, another toy tie-in, and a very popular cartoon.  I liked Masters of the Universe, but it's very similar to the latest Star Wars in that it provided famlliar faces in new ways without a ton of twists.  Is it bad?  No.   You'll get great costumes, creatures, and some nifty vehicle effects - but you basically know the story.  And that applies to a lot of the big franchise films these days, which do a good job pleasing fans but fall a little short on surprises or changes to the status quo.

A few theater chains around Arizona seem to be cutting it down to one screening per day, but some of the bigger chains haven't yet disclosed weekend screenings while others just seem to be giving it a trim.  If you haven't seen it yet, I'd recommend checking it out.  It's unlikely any movie is going to give you the experience of being five again, but if you happen to live in a town with limited screening options?  Time might be running out. Unless you want to wait for streaming, in which case the time is almost here.

I have also noticed some of the toys are on markdown at big box shops.  Some of Hasbro's ActionVerse line were 30% off at Target last week, and Mattel's plush Grogu doll was 50% off.  If you wanted to give that STAP a shot, now might be a good time to start looking.  I don't believe I've seen markdowns on the Blokees kits at Walmart or the Hasbro collector figures from The Black Series or The Vintage Collection just yet.  Those assortments should be rolling ahead with more new figures from other movies and series as the year goes on.

I'm hoping to catch The Mandalorian and Grogu on the big screen again Tuesday night, and it wouldn't surprise me if it stuck around at the bigger multiplexes for a while.   It will face a lot of new competition this weekend with movies like Steven Spielberg's Disclosure Day along with Stop! That! Train!, a rerelease of I Shot Andy Warhol, martial arts thriller The Furious, and even a BTS concert film.  And that's just this weekend.   The box office has had a very short attention span for a couple of decades now, making it challenging for any movie to be top of the box office unless it somehow scared the other blockbusters away. 

And don't forget, both the original Star Wars from 1977 and Starfighter are on deck for 2026.