The massive sport is within the rearview mirror. For soccer followers, meaning Sundays at the moment are free for a number of months. For movie followers, although, it means a complete lot of brand-new footage to pour over. Certainly, the 2026 Tremendous Bowl featured fairly a number of film trailers, with all the pieces from “Scream 7” to “Minions & Monsters” unveiling contemporary materials. Nevertheless, when it got here to “The Mandalorian and Grogu” (the primary “Star Wars” film in almost seven years), Disney and Lucasfilm tried to do one thing a bit out of the field.
You’ll be able to watch the “Mandalorian and Grogu” Tremendous Bowl trailer right here, nevertheless it caught lots of people off guard. Fairly than a standard preview, viewers had been handled to a industrial that includes Mando and Child Yoda that nods to well-known promos from earlier Tremendous Bowl occasions. Extra particularly, the advert — which reveals the movie’s titular duo using in a carriage being pulled by Tauntauns and accompanied by a rugged voiceover — is seemingly meant to invoke older Budweiser commercials, amongst different issues.
So, why did Disney spend $10 million to air a, shall we embrace, distinctive 30-second spot for the film, versus a standard trailer? This is what Disney’s government VP of inventive advertising and marketing, Jackson George, needed to supply on the matter (per Selection):
“Grogu is greater than a personality; he is a popular culture phenomenon. Using alongside the heroic Mandalorian, he brings lightness, humor, pleasure, and an instantaneous emotional connection that transcends the second. This Huge Sport spot celebrates how deeply we love and join with these characters, reminds us of the enjoyable, coronary heart, and spectacle that defines ‘Star Wars,’ and provides a bite-sized promise of the expertise audiences will get once they see these two beloved icons on the large display.”
The Mandalorian and Grogu’s Tremendous Bowl trailer took an unconventional advertising and marketing method
“The Mandalorian and Grogu,” which is director Jon Favreau’s feature-length continuation of his Disney+ sequence “The Mandalorian,” is below a variety of strain to revive the “Star Wars” movie model within the wake of 2019’s “The Rise of Skywalker” (itself maybe probably the most difficult billion-dollar field workplace hit in historical past). Marking the film in the course of the Tremendous Bowl is smart, however doing so on this trend is an enormous swing.
Other than hypothesis that “Landman” star Sam Elliott narrated the “Mandalorian and Grogu” promo, which hasn’t been confirmed as of this writing, reactions on social media are ranging wildly. Working example: Whereas one Threads consumer referred to as it a “cute parody of Budweiser” and “hilarious enjoyable,” one other one merely wrote, “What the f*** was that ‘Mandalorian and Grogu’ spot?”
As for Disney’s intentions, Lucasfilm’s advertising and marketing model lead Ryan Stankevich has stated that the studio needed to create one thing “immediately iconic, cinematic, and quintessentially ‘Star Wars'” (by way of Selection). Stankevich added:
“Our inventive and advertising and marketing staff landed on a novel idea that gave a nod to traditional Huge Sport spots of years previous. It captured the heat, humor, and emotional connection between these two beloved characters and was the right subsequent step for our marketing campaign as we lead as much as their huge display debut this summer time.”
Regardless, die-hard “Star Wars” lovers are most likely nonetheless going to indicate up for this film. The theatrical “Mandalorian and Grogu” teaser has promised Child Yoda on the large display, which is an effective sufficient promote for “Mandalorian” followers. In the meantime, this Tremendous Bowl spot was extra centered on interesting to informal viewers. Did it work? That continues to be to be seen.
“The Mandalorian and Grogu” hits theaters on Might 22, 2026.
