Disney+ breakout star Grogu (better known as Baby Yoda) is getting his own theatrical film called The Mandalorian & Grogu, which will be directed and produced by Jon Favreau.

Favreau is a Disney favorite whose directorial credits with the company include Iron Man and The Jungle Book. Lucasfilm execs Kathleen Kennedy and Dave Filoni will also have producer credits on the feature, which should go into production sometime this year. 

One of Disney+’s first original series, The Mandalorian now spans three seasons and had accumulated a watchtime total of 1.1 billion minutes in March 2023, according to Nielsen.

Buoyed by the popularity of the franchise’s growing TV universe (The Book of Boba Fett, Asohka, Obi-Wan Kenobi), Lucasfilm put three new Star Wars movies into development last year, helmed by directors who have worked in Disney’s orbit: James Mangold (Logan), Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (Ms. Marvel) and Filoni (The Mandalorian). Mangold’s film explores the first Jedi; Obaid-Chinoy is tackling a continuation of the recent sequel movies, and Filoni will wrap up storylines from the interconnected TV shows. 

Lucasfilm’s sci-fi juggernaut has generated US$10 billion at the global box office to date. And while consumers might be cutting back on retail spending, Star Wars and LEGO Star Wars are among the top 10 bestselling toy brands in the US, based on the latest market data available from Circana (January to September 2023).