In addition to the final trailer and the opening 17 minutes of the film, director Jon Favreau hit the stage at Cinemacon in Las Vegas to hype The Mandalorian and Grogu and explain how integral Star Wars was to him in childhood (“Star Wars made me fall in love with movies. I hope that our enjoyment and excitement and love of Star Wars translates to fans seeing it for the first time”). In addition to the statue and standee in the foyer, The Hollywood Reporter were there, describing what was screened during the presentation.
The Mandalorian & Grogu opens with a tense meeting among Empire leadership, ending with one member getting killed. Soon, Pascal makes his presence known, dispatching plenty of Empire guards along the way. He scoops up Grogu, chiding him, “What are you waiting for? Hop on.” They then make their way down the side of a snowy mountain in a high-speed chase.
“He’s breaching the hatch,” a member of the Empire exclaims about the Mandalorian. Grogu adorably taps Pascal’s helmet amid a tense battle moment, and later the little guy has other cute moments like sneezing and frolicking down a flight of stairs.
“Things went a little sideways,” Pascal announces at one point.
When he meets up with Sigourney Weaver‘s Colonel Ward, she has some constructive criticism. “Messy, very messy,” Weaver scolds Pascal. “This isn’t about revenge. It’s about preventing another war and protecting everything that the rebellion fought for.”
She then sends Pascal off to seek out Rotta the Hut. After Pascal expresses hesitance, she replies, “You don’t want the job, I got nothing for you.”
Favreau was also interviewed onstage by Matt Belloni, who delved into the film, AI and movie theater teechnology.
Live from CinemaCon at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Matt is joined by ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ director Jon Favreau to discuss bringing a streaming property to the big screen, the future of the ‘Star Wars’ universe, why the perception of AI needs to change, how to improve movie theaters, and how new technology is transforming filmmaking