Chapter 1: What are the hosts' initial thoughts on 'The Mandalorian and Grogu'?
Hello, welcome back to House of R. It is still Friend of the Pod month. My friend Mallory Rubin is here. I'm Joanna Robinson, but more importantly, Friend of the Pod Supreme, Grogu. Grogu's here. Grogu's here. We have a star in the studio today, folks.
That's a star.
Chapter 2: What insights do the hosts share about the film's box office performance?
Cookie enthusiast, wow. And we're here today to talk about his film. Yes. The Mandalorian and Grogu. Star Wars, colon, The Mandalorian and Grogu. Yes, that's right. And don't worry, we're ethical journalists, so we will not hold back simply because Grogu is here. If we have things to say, we will say them to Grogu's adorable face.
We have some notes coming, but also some coos, babbles, harumphs, and purrs. And Grogu will be here with us for it all.
And we're going to do all of that right after this. This episode of House of R is presented to you by Target. Call in all trainers.
The Pokemon and Target collection celebrating 30 years of Pokemon is almost here.
And the lineup is kind of incredible. A few are sure to be fan faves. Pokemon starter jackets, mystery water type Pokemon bottles, and even caboodles.
which feels perfect because Pokemon has always been about sharing the adventure. And Target is bringing fans together to celebrate that spirit.
The first drop is in store May 2nd, online May 3rd, with the second drop June 6th. Explore now at Target.com. Quick programming reminders. Friend of the Pod month continues apace. We've got a summer hype episode that we're planning to do. Hype meter. Yep. Some Spider Noir. That's right. Some Tenet. That's right. And we've got a couple pals lined up for those shows.
Am I going to say who they are? No, because we haven't recorded them yet, and anything could happen. This is Hollywood. June is almost upon us. Sure is.
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Chapter 3: How do the hosts evaluate the character development of Grogu?
The Vampire Lestat, most importantly. Yeah. House of the Dragons. Can't wait. A little show that we've heard of. Can't wait. A film that I'm hotly anticipating and definitely know the name of, Disclosure Day. I can't wait. Really excited. Yeah. Odyssey. Odyssey. Around the corner. Supergirl. San Diego Comic-Con. We will be there. And all the rest. Yes. Okay.
I'm looking forward to getting sick once again.
I really don't want to get sick. I was so sick after Comic-Con last year, and it's a busy summer. So I've got to strategize how to stay healthy and well. But I did have fun at Comic-Con. So are you tipping your height meter? Will the stat be number one for you? You're revealing that now?
Hard to say.
Or should people stay tuned? Yeah, who's to say? Okay.
I can surprise you.
Sure. Yeah, I bet.
Follow us on our new House of R Instagram and TikTok at House of R pod. Yeah.
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Chapter 4: What critiques do the hosts offer regarding the plot and pacing of the film?
Maybe you'll get some behind the scenes action there. You know, some of Grogu's takes that didn't make the final edit. Ooh, too hot. That was saved for social. For live.
Mm-hmm. And hobbitsanddragons at gmail.com. That's right. The inbox is always open.
Always. We got a couple emails we're going to read today.
Speaking of which. Yes. We got a response to our front of the pod. Damon Lindelof came on. Mm-hmm.
Wonderful. Fantastic.
Mallory, who won the draft on that episode? You did. I did. You did. Handily. Congrats. Thank you so much.
I like to be gracious in defeat. And I've tried to be gracious in victory over the years as I've aged and matured. Wasn't always the case.
But people loved that Damon episode, as did we. We had a great time recording with Damon.
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Chapter 5: What are the hosts' opinions on the CGI and practical effects used in the movie?
So fun. One of our listeners, though, Mariah, wanted to push back on something that Damon said. Damon was trying to— And he's not here to defend himself. He can text us later. Damon was trying to push back on my Grogu is an accessory argument by shouting out a few other characters who he— Star Wars, beloved Star Wars characters who he felt didn't really have an arc either.
And he mentioned C-3PO. And this is what our listener Mariah said. C-3PO absolutely has an arc. Of course. In A New Hope, C-3PO is disheveled, tells R2 to give up on fighting Obi-Wan, and doesn't see himself as fit for the adventure. In Empire, he's literally broken into pieces. A symbolic death. Oh. But by the end of Return, he too becomes a hero.
He steps into being a god to save the team from death and being eaten, enables them to befriend the Ewoks, and holds the Ewoks captive with his recounting of their journey. C-3PO, what a guy. How pissed do you think C-3PO would be to learn that Hutts speak English, speak basic English?
Oh, yeah. Interesting. There is a lot of Hutt-speaking basic action from both Radha and one of the twins, of course, in this movie. You know, I think 3PO, the question is, when you ask him that, is he coming off a memory wipe and would it really resonate in that moment in time, which is just something to consider.
Chapter 6: How do the hosts compare the film to previous Star Wars projects?
It's a great question. I have no comment because for, I was thinking about this, third Star Wars draft in a row, 3PO in some way was my undoing. Years ago, it wasn't years, it could have been months, I don't know, what is time? What is time? We invited Van on the pod to do a Star Wars droids draft, remember?
And as is often the case, I think, with Star Wars drafts, it was a little too hipster, right? Tried to say it was ball nowhere, as CR likes to say, but really it was hipster. Van kicked our asses. And... He went with some classic characters. We did not. I learned some lessons. It was a takeaway. Some lessons were learned.
On the big pick, Star Wars draft recently, and I stand by the take, but 3PO was really central to... Your strategy. A crucial moment in how that draft unfolded. And then, of course... You selected, I think I had some 3PO R2 PTSD from that experience. And you were able to select them right after I should have taken them. So I just, I'm taking a break from thinking about 3PO.
And I really only have eyes for Grogo and the Anzellans. And that's just where we are with it.
Anthony Daniels in this movie. Voice, a voice in this movie. Ever present. Always. Thanks so much, everyone. Always in our hearts and minds, just not always in my drafts. But in my draft, I thank you all for voting and making sure that I won by a landslide. I really appreciate you all.
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Chapter 7: What do the hosts say about the themes of mentorship and growth in the story?
Spoiler warning, all of Star Wars actually. If it has happened in canon, in legends, in comics, in cartoons, in live action, on Disney+, back in the day when it was Lucasfilm, whatever the case may be, it is eligible for us to talk about. But guess what? This movie doesn't connect to a ton of lore. No. So I don't know that we will be diving that deep into lore in this podcast.
No, I do think we will talk about some of the things that were chosen to be included and then maybe, more crucially, not selected for inclusion in terms of the overall stretch of time we've spent with these characters. But yeah, very little happens in the movie on the story advancement front, so not quite as much to dive into. But we do have a lot of Grogu delights. to talk about.
So it's a deep dive on the Grogu feelings front, if nothing else. Deep diving into those blue cookies. It's a feelings dive.
Let's go now to our opening snapshot. All right, so we're recording this on Friday. It's quite early, of course, in the run of this movie. It just opened last night. So we're about to throw some numbers at you, but they're early numbers and the story may change by Monday or Tuesday. This is a holiday weekend.
That's right.
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Chapter 8: What snacks do the hosts try, and how do they relate to Grogu?
So anything could happen. Rotten Tomatoes currently, an imperfect metric, 63 for critics. Tough. Yeah. 89, creeping upwards on the audience score on the popcorn meter. 89 on the old popcorn meter. 63, 89 is a big gap. Interesting. Metacritic 53, 3.2 on Letterboxd when I checked last night. So that is where we are. Box office tracking. So just like, again, we don't know. It's Friday.
Who knows what's going to happen? But 80 to 100 million is sort of like, and that was the initial expectation. And then based on the Thursday night box office, that's sort of where it's holding. For domestic. For domestic. I talked to a couple people anecdotally who went to see it last night and their theaters were not full. So that's just, you know, even here in L.A.
where oftentimes an opening weekend theaters are full. Right. That's just anecdotal evidence.
IMAX seemed pretty full. Scanning, but maybe not the non-IMAX screens. Right.
But it's a Memorial Day weekend. This is... A kind of scary but fairly kid-friendly movie. And, you know, if people, families are looking to do something with their kids this weekend, like, you know, we might see a bigger box office than that. We will see. The AV Club has a write-up on this.
I've been seeing this narrative go around that $80 million is quite good for a movie that came out of a TV show. Right. You know, so if your comps are like the Simpsons movie or the J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie, those made $74 million, $75 million. So $80 million would be the highest grossing movie to come out of a TV show ever.
However, really dismal return for a Star Wars movie, and especially the first Star Wars movies after seven years of no Star Wars movies in the theater. Yeah, it's solo territory, right?
That's... Hashtag make solitude happen, of course, but also it's not really the comp you want.
And we've been talking in our primer pod and the last little stretch of time here about how the narrative had sort of been shaped to prepare for this outcome, but that doesn't mean that it's what they were initially hoping when they selected this to be the first Star Wars cinematic event since 2019's Rise of Skywalker.
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