Indiana Jones earns a lukewarm $60 million debut in North America
Indiana Jones and executives at Walt Disney Co. and Lucasfilm made a somewhat disheartening discovery this weekend. Moviegoers didn’t rush to the theater in large numbers to see “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” and say goodbye to Harrison Ford as the iconic archaeologist.
The film, reportedly budgeted north of $250 million, came in at the lower end of projections with $60 million in ticket sales from 4,600 North American theaters, according to studio estimates on Sunday.
Including $70 million in international screenings in 52 markets, “Dial of Destiny” celebrated a $130 million worldwide opening. It easily earned the No. 1 title, but wasn’t the high-rolling send-off for one of modern cinema’s most iconic actor/character pairings that everyone was hoping for. Disney predicts it will make $82 million domestically through the July 4 holiday and $152 million worldwide.
“Dial of Destiny” is the long-delayed fifth installment in the Steven Spielberg/George Lucas created adventure series that began in 1981, and the first not directed by Spielberg himself. Veteran James Mangold stepped in to take charge of the Spielberg-approved script, which sees an elderly Dr. Jones retires and embarks on a new adventure with his goddaughter Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge).
The movie had its smash premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May, with a fitting celebration from Ford, who has said this will be the last time he plays the character.
But then it was hit with lukewarm reviews. This was an unexpected and unwelcome hurdle, given that it came after the much-maligned fourth film, 2008’s Indiana Jones and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Another additional problem was that a significant portion of the target audience, older viewers, the opening weekend for big blockbusters don’t often buy tickets. But even “Crystal Skull,” budgeted at a reported $185 million, managed to raise more than $790 million.
Second place went to “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” with $11.5 million, bringing the domestic total to approximately $340 million. “Elemental” came in third with $11.3 million.
Aside from “Dial of Destiny,” the weekend’s other major new opener was the animated “Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken,” which debuted in sixth place with $5.2 million.
“Dial of Destiny’s” disappointing debut comes just weeks after both Warner Bros.’ “The Flash” and Disney/Pixar’s “Elemental” had mediocre openings in North America. “Elemental”, like Indy 5, also premiered in Cannes to a mediocre reception.
Things will only get more challenging for “Dial of Destiny” in the coming weeks with a busy July month. “Mission: Impossible-Dead Reckoning Part I” premieres on July 12, followed by “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie” on July 21.
