Lede
Star Wars has returned to the cinema with proper IMAX muscle, but parts of it still move like the merchandise arrived before the soul.
Hermit Off Script
The Mandalorian and Grogu is exactly the kind of Star Wars film that looks better on an IMAX screen than it ever will on a television, laptop, tablet, phone, fridge door, or whatever cursed screen people now use to avoid silence. The size matters here. The effects matter. The worlds matter. It is a treat for the eyes, and in that sense the film knows exactly what it is doing.
It has the familiar characters, the updated Star Wars texture and enough material carried over from The Mandalorian to reward fans for doing their Disney+ homework. Sigourney Weaver is a clever addition because she doesn’t enter a science-fiction film alone. Some actors carry a whole museum of cinema behind them. With Weaver, I couldn’t help feeling Alien and Avatar echoing in the room. That isn’t a problem. It is part of the pleasure. She has the kind of screen history that makes a new universe feel less like content and more like a room where other great stories have already left fingerprints. She doesn’t need to announce her importance. She arrives, and the film borrows gravity.
My issue is with the smaller characters. Grogu, the Anzellans and some of the other creatures still needed more natural movement and presence in certain shots. Sometimes they feel alive. Sometimes they look like expensive dolls placed inside a technically magnificent scene while everyone around them politely protects the merchandise. Lucasfilm used a mixture of puppetry and digital work, so I am not blaming one technique. I am describing the result. For a film capable of creating planets, ships and entire civilisations, that small stiffness becomes oddly loud.
The galaxy can explode beautifully, but when the creature in the corner moves like a collectible, the spell cracks.
My imagination then goes further, because this is where cinema may be heading. One day, old films could be rebuilt with AI so that they appear to have been filmed with current technology. After that, perhaps entire universes will exist in convincing virtual reality, where you do not merely watch the story. You enter it, touch the door, fight the creature and probably still get charged for a premium skin. Maybe that is 10 to 15 years away. Maybe longer.
As an idea, not a fact, I can imagine Star Wars becoming a place rather than a film. But I still miss clear Jedi stories. Machines may eventually rebuild every surface. They still can’t fake direction.
P.S. Update – 23 July 2026:
The film has now earned approximately USD 344.86 million worldwide against a reported USD 165 million production budget and arrived on digital platforms on 21 July. That does not produce a simple profit calculation, but it does make the theatrical experiment look less triumphant than the opening weekend headlines suggested. The screen was enormous. The legs were rather more television-sized.
The Mandalorian and Grogu | Official Trailer
Movie synopsis
After the fall of the Empire, scattered Imperial warlords continue to threaten the young New Republic. Din Djarin and his apprentice Grogu are enlisted to help defend what the Rebellion fought to create. Their latest mission takes them across unfamiliar worlds and into new conflicts, while the bond between the Mandalorian and his young companion remains at the centre of the story.
Cast and credits
Director: Jon Favreau
Writers: Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni and Noah Kloor
Genre: Science-fiction action adventure
Main cast: Pedro Pascal, Sigourney Weaver, Jeremy Allen White and Martin Scorsese
Composer: Ludwig Goransson
Production company/studio: Lucasfilm; distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Runtime: 132 minutes
UK rating: 12A for moderate violence, threat and injury detail
Release year and platform: Released in UK cinemas on 22 May 2026, including IMAX; released on digital platforms on 21 July 2026
What does not make sense
- A film built for IMAX scale still lets some of its smallest characters break the illusion.
- Lucasfilm combined puppetry and digital effects, yet the finished movement occasionally looks less convincing than the machinery surrounding it.
- Grogu is emotionally central, commercially valuable and visually iconic, so every awkward movement becomes more noticeable.
- The film wants to welcome newcomers, but much of its emotional weight depends on familiarity with the Disney+ series.
- Star Wars returned to cinemas after a 7-year absence, then reached digital platforms only 60 days after its UK cinema release.
- The film cost a reported USD 165 million, opened strongly and then fell 70 per cent during its second domestic weekend.
- The galaxy looks enormous, but the franchise direction still feels trapped inside television corridors.
Sense check / The numbers
- The film opened in UK cinemas on 22 May 2026, nearly 7 years after Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker ended the franchise’s previous cinema run in December 2019. [Disney] [StarWars.com]
- The BBFC lists the standard cinema version at 131 minutes 56 seconds and the IMAX version at 131 minutes, both rated 12A for moderate violence, threat and injury detail. [BBFC]
- The Numbers reports an USD 165 million production budget and approximately USD 344.86 million in worldwide ticket sales. [The Numbers]
- Its domestic opening weekend was USD 81.67 million, followed by USD 24.45 million in its second weekend, a fall of 70 per cent. [The Numbers]
- Rotten Tomatoes currently lists a 60 per cent critic score from 320 reviews and an 87 per cent audience score from more than 10,000 verified ratings. [Rotten Tomatoes]
The sketch
Scene 1: The IMAX galaxy
An enormous cinema screen shows planets, ships and glowing battle trails. A tiny seated viewer looks up with wide eyes.
Dialogue:
Viewer: “This is cinema.”
Screen: “Finally, someone noticed.”
Scene 2: The tiny problem
A small green creature stands beside tiny mechanics near a shining ship. Their limbs look stiff while a studio executive holds a toy catalogue behind them.
Dialogue:
Viewer: “Why do they move like props?”
Executive: “Props sell well.”
Scene 3: The missing Jedi door
A large door marked Jedi Stories stays closed while a queue of spin-off signs points in circles around it.
Dialogue:
Fan: “Can we open that?”
Studio: “First, another corridor.”
What to watch, not the show
- The return of Star Wars to cinema after years of Disney+ gravity.
- The business test: can a streaming-born Star Wars story behave like a theatrical event?
- The Grogu economy, where character, merchandise and audience affection sit in the same small robe.
- The IMAX push, because spectacle is now one of the few reasons people leave the sofa.
- The missing Jedi direction, which still feels like the unused engine in the franchise.
- The coming AI problem for cinema, where old worlds may be rebuilt before anyone asks whether they should be.
- The gap between visual scale and story hunger.
The Hermit take
The film knows how to look huge.
It still doesn’t know where Star Wars should go next.
Keep or toss
Verdict: Keep / Toss.
Keep the IMAX scale, Sigourney Weaver and creature craft.
Toss the stiff moments and the franchise hesitation.
Sources
- Official Disney UK film page: https://www.disney.co.uk/movies/star-wars-the-mandalorian-and-grogu
- Official Disney UK press kit: https://press.disney.co.uk/press-kit/the-mandalorian-%26-grogu-press-kit
- Official StarWars.com cast and credits: https://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-the-mandalorian-and-grogu-cast
- Official Grogu puppetry and visual-effects feature: https://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-the-mandalorian-and-grogu-interview
- Official digital and home-media release: https://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-the-mandalorian-and-grogu-watch-at-home
- BBFC runtime and UK classification: https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/star-wars-the-mandalorian-and-grogu-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0xmdmzmdg4
- Current worldwide box office and reported budget: https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Star-Wars-The-Mandalorian-and-Grogu-%282026%29
- Current critic and audience scores: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/star_wars_the_mandalorian_and_grogu
