Indiana Jones and the executives of the Walt Disney Co. and Lucasfilm made a somewhat disheartening discovery over the weekend. Moviegoers didn’t flock to the theater in droves to see “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Fate” and say goodbye to Harrison Ford as the iconic archaeologist.
The film, which reportedly has a budget north of $250 million, arrived at the bottom end of projections with $60 million in ticket sales at 4,600 North American theaters, according to studio estimates on Sunday.
Including $70 million from international screenings in 52 markets, “Dial of Destiny” celebrated a $130 million global opening. He easily took the No. 1 title, but wasn’t the high-flying send-off for one of modern cinema’s most iconic actor/character pairings that everyone was hoping for. Disney expects to earn $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 Spielberg himself did not direct. Veteran James Mangold has stepped in to take the reins of supervising the Spielberg-approved script, which finds an older Dr. Jones retiring from his college job and embarking on a new adventure with his goddaughter Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge ).
The film had its splashy premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May, with a fitting celebration from Ford, who said it was his last time playing 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 the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.” older viewers don’t tend to buy a lot of opening weekend tickets for big blockbusters. But even “Crystal Skull,” budgeted at $185 million, managed to gross over $790 million.
Second place went to “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” with $11.5 million, bringing its domestic total to around $340 million. “Elemental” landed in third place with $11.3 million.
Aside from “Dial of Destiny,” the weekend’s other main new release was the animated “Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken,” which debuted in sixth place with $5.2 million.
The disappointing debut of “Dial of Destiny” comes just weeks after the two Warner Bros. Disney/Pixar’s “The Flash” and “Elemental” had lackluster openings in North America. “Elemental,” like Indy 5, also premiered at Cannes to lackluster reception.
Things are only going to get tougher for “Dial of Destiny” in the coming weeks with a crowded July. “Mission: Impossible-Dead Reckoning Part I” opens July 12, followed by “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie” on July 21.