The highly anticipated Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny took the domestic box office crown this weekend but failed to generate extraordinary numbers, ultimately earning $60 million. Globally, the box office results for Indy’s final adventure totaled $130M, which, let’s be honest, is pretty dismal for one of cinema’s most iconic heroes. As noted by Deadline, Disney paid $4 billion to acquire Lucasfilm in the hopes of expanding on its plethora of content but has only regressed in the years following The Force Awakens’ incredible success.
What went wrong? Well, the Disney brand no longer carries the same appeal it once did following creatively bankrupt films and TV shows in recent years. Reviews for Indiana Jones 5 were lackluster, with just 68% of critics giving the pic a positive score. The marketing failed to generate a proper reason for audiences to shell out their hard-earned money to see Indy’s latest adventure on the big screen. One could also blame Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (which grossed $790M worldwide) for tarnishing the franchise brand beyond repair in 2008.
To put this in perspective, Indy opened with less than Solo ($84.4M 3-day/$103M 4-day), which was considered a massive box office bomb. Also, remember that Indy cost over $300M to produce, which is crazy, especially if you see the film — where did the money go?
Audiences awarded the pic a B+, just a notch above Crystal Skull’s B. In other words, any hope for another Top Gun: Maverick went out the window.
Is the summer simply too crowded this season? Aside from Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse ($339M), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 ($354M), and The Super Mario Bros. Movie ($573M), nothing has really caught fire at the box office. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts ($136M) did okay, The Flash ($99M) flopped, The Little Mermaid ($280M) did okay domestically but dried out worldwide, and Elemental ($88M) hasn’t generated much excitement. Are audiences holding out for Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning and Barbie? The former projects to open around $60-65M while the latter could see an $80-85M first weekend.
Time will tell.
The only other new release was DreamWorks’ animated feature Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken, which pulled in a meager $5.3M from 3,400 theaters. Ouch.
Box Office Results: Domestic Top 10
- Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (Dis) 4,600 theaters, Fri $24M, Sat $19M, Sun $17M 3-day $60M/Wk 1
- Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Sony) 3,405 (-380) theaters, Fri $3.4M (-40%) Sat $4.3M Sun $3.7M 3-day $11.5M (-39%)/Total $339.8M /Wk 5
- Elemental (Dis) 3,650 (-385) theaters, Fri $3.4M (-40%), Sat $4.2M, Sun $3.7M 3-day $11.3M (-40%), Total $88.7M/Wk 3
- No Hard Feelings (Sony) 3,208 theaters, Fri $2.3M (-63%) Sat $2.8M Sun $2.4M 3-day $7.5M (-50%), Total $29.3M /Wk 2
- Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (Par) 2,852 (-671) theaters, Fri $1.92M (-40%) Sat $2.7M Sun $2.3M 3-day $7M (-40%), Total $136.1M/Wk 4
- Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken(Uni/DWA) 3,400 theaters, Fri $2.3M, Sat $1.6M Sun $1.2M 3-day $5.3M/Wk 1
- The Little Mermaid (Dis) 2,430 (-845) theaters, Fri $1.55M (-42%) Sat $1.9M Sun $1.7M 3-day $5.15M (-37%)/Total $280.9M Wk 6
- The Flash (WB) 2,718 (-1,538) theaters, Fri $1.4M (-68%), Sat $1.9M Sun $1.6M 3-day $5.15M (-67%), Total $99.2M/Wk 3
- Asteroid City (Foc) 1,901 (+226) theaters, Fri $1.18M (-69%), Sat $1.5M, Sun $1.12M 3-day $3.8M (-58%), Total $18.1M/Wk 3
- Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 3 (Dis) 1,165 (-845) theaters, Fri $525K Sat $725K Sun $550K 3-day $1.8M /Total $354.8M/Wk 9