The buzz on “The Mandalorian and Grogu” is building, and little of it is good.
“Star Wars” needs a hit, badly, and anticipation for the first film in the franchise since 2019’s “The Rise of Skywalker” is muted, to say the least.
That cringe Oscars segment with Sigourney Weaver and Grogu didn’t help.
Nor did a journalist who saw the film’s first 15 minutes and came away less than impressed.
There’s a similar sense of urgency tied to “Avengers: Doomsday.”
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The Dec. release gathers just about every actor who ever tugged on a skintight lycra suit to battle Victor Von Doom, played by Robert Downey, Jr.
The film comes with a heavy burden – make the MCU matter again. That’s after a series of clunkers (“The Marvels,” “Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania”) and films that might have broken the bank years ago but didn’t (“Thunderbolts,” “The Fantastic Four: First Steps”).
Plenty is riding on “Avengers: Doomsday,” which makes the reaction to the film’s first major trailer at CinemaCon noteworthy. The bad buzz reportedly faded, replaced by a glimpse of Downey’s Doom and action featuring key players like Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Captain America (Chris Evans).
It’s common for a trailer to leak online after it debuts at a Comic-Con-style event. Not this time.
RDJ introduces the Avengers: Doomsday trailer. Then Kevin Feige decides to play it a second time. Big hype. Crowd is pumped. #AvengersDoomsday #CinemaCon #FilmThreatCinemaCon pic.twitter.com/yjVKaPGC5U
— Chris Gore (@ThatChrisGore) April 17, 2026
Which means anticipation will build until Disney unleases the clip in a proper manner.
And then what?
Will fans perplexed at casting the actor behind Iron Man as Doctor Doom be suddenly satiated? What about observers who watched the Russo brothers go from “Avengers: Endgame” to streaming duds like “Cherry” and “The Electric State?”
The ultimate worst-case scenario remains the 2016 “Ghostbusters” trailer. That snippet was preceded by Comic-Con grumblings about the old guard being discarded for four female Ghostbusters.
Woke! They cried. Had the trailer delivered the comic goods, those jeers might have turned to cheers. Instead, the trailer failed to quell the fans’ unease over the project. And we all know what happened next.
We’ve already seen several mini-trailers for “Avengers: Doomsday,” but they didn’t showcase the film itself but rather individual character beats.
This trailer, the one shared at CinemaCon, is the real deal. But is it enough? We’ll see soon, but the final results roll in starting on Dec. 18.
