Disney’s ‘Indiana Jones’ 5 Takes Home a Tepid $60 Million Over July 4th Weekend

The Disney+ logo is seen on the backdrop for the World Premiere of "The Mandalorian" at El Capitan theatre in Hollywood, Calif., on Nov. 13, 2019. (Nick Agro/AFP via Getty Images)

Amidst its less-than-stellar Cannes premiere, flaccid 43 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating, and myriad woke-related controversies surrounding its studio, Disney’s latest Indiana Jones installment had a lukewarm $60 million box office debut.

That’s according to Comscore numbers, which show Disney’s “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” earned an estimated $130 million 3-day global weekend ($60 million domestic and $70 million international). Directed this time around by James Mangold, the film stars Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas, Thomas Kretschmann, and Mads Mikkelsen.

While it still managed to take the box office’s top spot, by some accounts the numbers reflect a less than lackluster opening for the long-awaited continuation. Still others see it as a decent debut for this latest sequel, which represents the finale for the entire franchise. The movie, which opened Friday has a conceivably five-day play period given that Independence Day falls on a Tuesday. Comscore computed its three-day gross.

“'Indiana Jones’ and the summer movie season are synonymous and of course high expectations were placed on the opening weekend results for the film,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore. “The response out of Cannes for this fifth installment was tepid and despite an outpouring of respect for film icon Harrison Ford, this less than enthusiastic response may have set the tone for how general audiences perceived the film and may have muted interest and thus the necessity to run out to the multiplex on opening weekend.”

Indy Franchise Lacks the Buzz it Once Had

Prior to its release, Dial of Destiny didn’t have strong word of mouth and was tracking significantly stronger with older men over younger guys, which led to some critics comparing it to the Daniel Craig 007 finale “No Time to Die,” which earned $55.2 million its opening weekend while 2018’s “Mission Impossible - Fallout” grossed $61.5 million its opening weekend, according to Business Insider.

Dergarabedian said he was hesitant to make a prediction about what the film will ultimately make due to the changing nature of the box office since the previous Indiana Jones films. The last Indiana Jones installment was released in 2008.

While that film “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” garnered $100.1 million in its May Memorial Day three-day opening weekend of 4,260 theaters, previous Indiana Jones films from the 1980s were never that high, but then they also opened in substantially fewer locations.

Still, to gain some sense of comparison, 1989’s “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” opened in approximately half as many theaters as “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull“ opened on a Thursday over Memorial Day and grossed $29.4 million over the three days (and $151.9 million over five days). That’s as 1984’s ”Temple of Doom“ raked in $34 million from 1.687 theaters while 1981’s ”Raiders of the Lost Ark” took in $8.3 million from 1,078 theaters. “The older ones opened in half as many theaters in a blockbuster era that was quite different,” said Dergarabedian. “So it’s not apple to apple.”

Sony’s Spider-Man Holding Strong this Summer

In terms of how other films did at the box office this 4th of July holiday, Sony’s release of “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” now in weekend five earned an estimated $11.5 million for the three-day weekend to come in second. That brings its total domestic gross to $339.872 million through Sunday. The hit film grossed $600 million worldwide.

In third place, Disney Pixar’s “Elemental” had a solid third-weekend hold of 39 percent taking in $11.3 million in 3,650 locations for a domestic cumulative through Sunday of $88,778,805. It grossed an estimated $187 million globally by the end of its third week. That’s while Sony’s R-rated comedy “No Hard Feelings” starring Jennifer Lawrence now in its second weekend came in fourth earning an estimated $7.5 million for the three-day weekend, bringing its total domestic gross to $29.311 million through Sunday.

Rounding out the top five was Paramount’s “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” now in weekend four. It earned an estimated $7 million in 2,852 million theaters with its international cumulative now at $245.2 million and global cumulative is now at $381,310,066.

In the case of Indy 5, industry insiders didn’t expect weekend projections for Dial of Destiny to be up to the same level as the previous chapter. The reasoning was twofold: the film got the worst reviews ever at 66 percent coming out of its Cannes Film Festival debut, but also, its audience is aging, similar to the 007 franchise.

“It’s not surprising that the Dial of Destiny box office numbers appear so low. Most Indy fans still see the lackluster Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, a sequel which damaged the franchise’s once bulletproof brand,” Christian Toto, host of The Hollywood in Toto Podcast, told The Epoch Times.

“The early trailers and clips from ‘Destiny’ haven’t wowed many, and the leaks about the film suggest our rugged hero will take a back seat to Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s character. That, plus the lackluster reviews for the film from its Cannes Film Festival world premiere, add up to a tepid hunger for a fifth ‘Indiana Jones’ installment,” he added.

Fans Underwhelmed by Indy’s New Chapter

That’s as word of mouth over social media and reviews weren’t kind to the film either despite the prospect of a new chapter in the Indiana Jones saga igniting ample fan excitement.

A review by the BBC uses the word “depressing” to describe it and compares it to another one of star Harrison Ford’s sequels “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” which brings back old characters and introduces new ones who are strangely similar to the old characters.

“(It) has the air of a film passing the torch (or whip) to the next generation. But it does all this in an even gloomier fashion than The Force Awakens did,” it read. “I’m not sure how many fans want to see Indiana Jones as a broken, helpless old man who cowers in the corner while his patronizing goddaughter takes the lead, but that’s what we’re given, and it’s as bleak as it sounds.”

And while many were excited for the mere fact it was returning, some weren’t so thrilled over the story, throwback elements, and the rumors that the film sets the stage for actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge as an adventurer/femme fatale to replace Indy in the franchise moving forward.

“Any time you manipulate the formula, fans can get really bothered and upset by that,” said Dergarabedian, noting that when you have a character as iconic as Indiana Jones, fans have very strong opinions about what the future may hold for that character. “In a sense the audience owns those characters—they’re part of our collective consciousness and our movie-going DNA so of course fans are passionate about whatever creative direction Indiana Jones may take.”

Dergarabedian also likened the scenario to Daniel Craig wrapping up his James Bond role.

“It’s interesting—a similar situation for a lot of fans happened around ‘James Bond: A Time To Die’ when fans were asking who can 007 be?” said Dergarabedian. “Obviously, there are lots of creative avenues you can take with Indy 5, which we saw back in with the Indiana Jones chronicle TV show and the 1989 film ‘Indiana Jones The Last Crusade’ with the addition of Sean Connery and Indiana Jones’ father and when River Phoenix was young Indy.”

Opening Weekend Numbers Don’t Tell the Whole Story

He also cautioned analysts to not just look at opening weekend numbers, which are often over-hyped but to examine second-weekend earnings as well when it comes to current theatrical releases.

“It’s an ever-evolving dynamic movie marketplace,” he said. “Sometimes unrealistic expectations [are] placed on movies that are opening.”

Regardless, he said the box office numbers are part of a complex equation and show in general that the summer theater-going season is recuperating.

“What all this means is that we’re back to normal—the over-hyped expectations and underwhelming weekend performances—all that is part and parcel of what makes for a normal summer movie season,” said Dergarabedian. “There’s so much to it. It’s about the competitive landscape, the hype, the reviews, and how the holiday lands on the calendar. There’s a lot of competition.”