The brief: make a streaming story feel like a cinema event.
The Mandalorian & Grogu is the first Star Wars film in cinemas since 2019, and the first built from a Disney+ series. That gave Disney UK a wide but split audience: series fans who skew young and male, a Star Wars heartland that skews older, and parents deciding whether this is the one to take the kids to.
Give audiences a reason to see it on the big screen now, instead of waiting for it to land on Disney+.
Disney asked us to guide the UK launch campaign using the newly released trailer. They needed to know which audiences to lead with, how priorities differ between them, and what to emphasize in the materials still to come.
Three audiences, three reasons to buy a ticket.
Adults 18-54 were half men, half women: core series fans, casual viewers who have seen some episodes, and lapsed Star Wars fans. Parents of kids 7-12 were the family ticket buyers, often bringing kids who are new to the series. Teens 13-17, the youngest independent cinemagoers, were split evenly boys and girls. Everyone had seen a film in cinemas in the last year and watches 5+ hours of TV a week.
Before the trailer, we measured Star Wars and series fanship, viewing habits, and interest in the film from its title alone, against the competitive slate. During it, viewers reacted live on our Sentiment Dial, and every like or dislike carried a tagged emotion: love, funny, exciting, suspenseful, confused, cringy. After it, we re-measured interest, then dug into opening-weekend intent, likes and holdbacks, franchise must-haves, favourite dialogue and positioning.
A spike tells you viewers reacted. The tag tells you why.
Five findings that shaped the plan.
One trailer lifted definite interest by about 20 points in every audience. Interest jumped after a single viewing and beat UK norms in all three cells. Mums jumped from 38% to 70%. Teen boys reached 86%. Casual series viewers posted some of the steepest gains of any group.
+20 points of definite interest among parents, after one trailer.
Definitely interested in seeing it in cinemas
| Metric | title only | after the trailer | Lift, points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parents | 51% | 71% | +20 |
| Teens | 54% | 77% | +23 |
| Adults 18-54 | 39% | 58% | +19 |
Casual viewers liked it. They just weren't in a hurry. Parents (63%) and core series fans (64%) were ready for opening weekend. Casual series viewers (37%) and men 35-54 (38%) were not, despite strong interest gains. That gap became the campaign's biggest risk: an audience that likes what it sees and plans to catch it later.
37% of casual series viewers planned to go opening weekend: the early warning.
Grogu's comedy and the big action beats drove the peaks. Villain voiceover lost people. The Sentiment Dial showed viewers leaning in for Grogu in the cockpit, the speeder escape from a monster, and Grogu using the Force. Engagement fell when the trailer turned to villain voiceover and the remnants of the Empire.
“The part where Grogu is asked to not mess with the plane. The ending part where Din Djarin seizes Grogu's snacks.” Woman, 30
What the Sentiment Dial's emotion tags showed
funniest moment
Grogu in the cockpit
30% tagged it funny
most exciting moment
Speeding away from a monster
21% tagged it exciting
most confusing moment
Mando asks about a Hutt
For the unconvinced, the problem was the story. Two in three viewers who weren't interested said the story didn't excite them. Others worried it didn't feel new, or that they'd need to have watched the series first. Half of parents believed their kids would need to see every episode to follow the film.
“I don't want to have to do 'homework' to catch up on plot.” Woman, 30
The recommendation: reinforce the primary audience, convince the secondary. We gave Disney a tiered UK target, with the creative levers for each tier.
Plus three targeted cutdowns: Action for teens, Found Family for parents, and Story for general audiences.
The tiered UK target
primary
Parents of kids 7-12 · Teen boys · Men 18-34 · Core fans
Lead with Star Wars on the big screen, epic action, and the fun bond between Din Djarin and Grogu.
secondary
Adults 35-54 · Casual viewers · Lapsed fans
Raise the stakes of the mission, tap Hutt nostalgia, and show Din Djarin's edge and dry humour.
stretch
Women 18-34 · Teen girls
A lighter tone that doesn't skew young, a proper introduction to the characters, and the father-son dynamic.
Scenes with Grogu are the most engaging.
Every viewer held the Sentiment Dial through the whole trailer, so each five seconds carries a reading from five audiences at once. The lines rise for Grogu's comedy and the big action beats, and sag when the trailer hands the screen to its villains.
Second by second: how each audience felt about the trailer
- 0:05–0:15 Grogu plays with the buttons and is strapped into his seat: some of the funniest moments.
- 0:20 Mando looks for a Hutt: high engagement, and one of the most confusing scenes.
- 0:30 The dip: the remnants of the Empire, and the villains.
- 0:40 Colonel Ward, then Grogu using the Force: the most exciting moment.
- 1:00–1:20 The “suffering” dialogue: audiences disengage.
- 1:45–2:00 Grogu and Mando speed away from a monster, among the most exciting scenes. Grogu using the Force in a baby carrier is one of the most cringey.
| Time | Overall (n=497) | Core viewers, seen all (n=148) | Casual viewers, seen some (n=178) | Parents (n=100) | Teens (n=99) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0:00 | +2.0 | +2.3 | +1.6 | +2.4 | +1.4 |
| 0:05 | +1.6 | +2.1 | +1.2 | +1.5 | +1.6 |
| 0:10 | +1.1 | +1.3 | +1.2 | +1.2 | +1.1 |
| 0:15 | +0.8 | +0.5 | +1.8 | +0.6 | +0.7 |
| 0:20 | +1.3 | +1.6 | +1.2 | +0.9 | +1.6 |
| 0:25 | +0.9 | +1.4 | +0.9 | +1.2 | +0.6 |
| 0:30 | +0.3 | +0.6 | +0.1 | +0.3 | +0.5 |
| 0:35 | +0.9 | +1.1 | +0.8 | +1.3 | +0.8 |
| 0:40 | +1.0 | +1.3 | +1.7 | +0.6 | +0.7 |
| 0:45 | +0.9 | +1.1 | +1.0 | +1.1 | +0.5 |
| 0:50 | +1.1 | +1.0 | +1.1 | +1.3 | +1.0 |
| 0:55 | +0.7 | +1.5 | +0.6 | +0.9 | +1.3 |
| 1:00 | +0.7 | +0.7 | +1.0 | +0.9 | +0.4 |
| 1:05 | +0.7 | +1.4 | +0.7 | +0.8 | +0.7 |
| 1:10 | +0.7 | +1.2 | +0.6 | +0.6 | +1.0 |
| 1:15 | +0.6 | +0.7 | +0.7 | +1.1 | +0.5 |
| 1:20 | +0.9 | +0.8 | +1.2 | +1.6 | +0.6 |
| 1:25 | +0.5 | +0.6 | +0.6 | +0.7 | +0.4 |
| 1:30 | +0.8 | +1.3 | +0.6 | +1.1 | +0.9 |
| 1:35 | +0.5 | +1.0 | +0.4 | +0.5 | +0.6 |
| 1:40 | +0.5 | +0.4 | +0.6 | +0.7 | +0.6 |
| 1:45 | +1.0 | +1.4 | +0.8 | +0.8 | +1.1 |
| 1:50 | +0.6 | +0.6 | +0.9 | +0.7 | +0.5 |
| 1:55 | +0.7 | +0.7 | +0.7 | +0.6 | +0.5 |
| 2:00 | +0.7 | +1.2 | +0.6 | +0.5 | +0.6 |
| 2:05 | +0.2 | +0.2 | +0.1 | +0.2 | +0.3 |
Viewers were especially responsive to funny moments of Grogu, and to Grogu using the Force. Scenes of Grogu and the Mandalorian together held up too, from the rescue in the water to the face-off with the snake creature. Attention fell away when the trailer turned to villain voiceover, like the “suffering” line.
The film opened in May. The pattern matched what we found in March.
What we found in March: the trailer's action, visuals and lead duo land with viewers.
Audiences gave it an A- CinemaScore and an 89% audience score.
What we found in March: families and younger viewers are the primary audience.
The film played strongest with under-13s.
What we found in March: the story is the main holdback.
Critics landed at 62%, well below audiences.
What we found in March: casual viewers show interest without urgency.
Strong opening, then a steep fall-off in the weeks after.
The Mandalorian & Grogu opened on 22 May 2026 at No. 1 in the UK, with £5.3m over three days, ahead of Solo's £4.8m. Audiences who went loved it, and the urgency gap we flagged showed up in the weeks that followed.
Box office reflects many factors beyond any one campaign. Figures from UK and US trade reporting, May to August 2026.
Finding the audience for a series-to-cinema leap.
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