The fate of the Indiana Jones box office? 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 intervened to take the reins overseeing the Spielberg-approved script, in which an elderly Dr. Jones retires and embarks on a new adventure with his goddaughter Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge).
“It’s impressive that a franchise over 40 years old is No. 1 at the box office. But there’s no doubt there were higher expectations for this film’s debut,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore. “This is Indiana Jones. This is an icon of a summer movie.”
The film had its spectacular premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May, with a fitting celebration from Ford, who has said this was the last time he played 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.
“Sometimes reviews don’t matter, but the sentiment that came out of Cannes was very powerful,” Dergarabedian said. “It started a story where people were already disappointed and they hadn’t even seen it.”
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”. lackluster openings in North America. “Elemental”, like Indy 5, also premiered in Cannes to a mediocre reception.
And yet, in its three weeks in theaters, “Elemental” has held up far better than “The Flash,” which once again plummeted to $5 million, bringing its domestic total to $99.3 million. Disney also saw similar promising amounts with “The Little Mermaid,” now grossing more than $280 million domestically and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” which has grossed more than $345 million. After the holidays, Disney will be responsible for nearly half of summer box office revenue.
“The whole story isn’t told on opening weekend,” Dergarabedian said.
Disney has a “clear weekend” ahead of no competing blockbusters, during which studio heads can reasonably hope that more families and an older audience buy tickets. But things will only get more challenging for “Dial of Destiny” in the coming weeks with a busy July. “Mission: Impossible-Dead Reckoning Part I” opens July 12, followed by “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie” on July 21.
“The ups and downs at the box office are giving us whiplash,” Dergarabedian said. “And we’re still on the cusp of some of the summer’s biggest movies.”
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at theaters in the US and Canada, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released on Monday.
1. “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” $60 million.
2. “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” $11.5 million.
3. “Elementary”, $11.3 million.
4. “No Hard Feelings”, $7.5 million.
5. “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” $7 million.
6. “Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken,” $5.2 million.
7. “The Little Mermaid”, $5.2 million.
8. “The Flash”, $5 million.
9. “Asteroid City”, $3.8 million.
10. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” $1.8 million.
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Follow AP film writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr.
