To call this week a tumultuous one for Disney feels like an understatement. While earlier reports and inside scoops had suggested that the House of Mouse was gearing up to begin the official marketing rollout for one of their biggest blockbusters of the coming year, things changed quickly when the company capitulated to the demands of government organizations such as the FCC (Federal Communications Commission), and decided to pull the late night talk-show, Jimmy Kimmel Live! from the air indefinitely.
The subsequent backlash was swift and uproarious, as people from across all corners of the entertainment industry and beyond stood in solidarity with Kimmel, citing the First Amendment and its protection of “free speech.” Because of all of this, Disney wound up delaying the release of the first trailer for its new Star Wars blockbuster, The Mandalorian and Grogu.
The new film, directed by longtime Mandalorian showrunner Jon Favreau, is the big-screen debut of two of the most popular characters in the Disney-run Star Wars series’, the titular Mandalorian, as played by Pedro Pascal, and his young Yoda-esque partner, Grogu. While the film has been making the rounds at various fan festivals and premiere events such as Star Wars Celebration, showing off trailers and footage for literal years now, the general public has yet to see even a second of officially released footage from the film. This is all the more unusual considering that the film comes out in a matter of months, and Lucasfilm has already publicly released several stills from the production of Shawn Levy’s Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, a film that doesn’t come out until a full year after The Mandalorian and Grogu.
According to various sources including trusted scooper Daniel Richtman, Disney was looking to break this unprecedented period of silence and begin flooding the market with Mandalorian and Grogu-adjacent marketing this week with the release of the first trailer on Thursday morning. However, given that the announcement of pulling Kimmel’s show off the air broke on Wednesday night and the discourse surrounding it was well and truly raging by the next morning, Disney hastily called off their plans. It’s worth noting that the backlash proved so severe, that Disney’s stock dropped seven-percent in only twenty-four hours.
Furthermore, even Mandalorian and Grogu star, Pedro Pascal, openly spoke out against Disney’s decision to pull Kimmel, posting an image of he and Kimmel together with the caption, “standing with you.”
So it’s anyone’s guess when The Mandalorian and Grogu trailer will actually drop now. Under normal circumstances, it would be fair to say the studio would wait until the backlash dies down a bit, but considering how close the release of the film is and how much it looks like this situation is only going to grow more complicated before its over, that might not be an option for Disney.