Facing the worst reviews ever for an Indiana Jones movie, the Lucasfilm franchise finale Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is hoping to gain traction with audiences and best its $60 million-$65 million domestic start and $140M global opening.
If the post-pandemic era has proved anything, it’s that popcorn pics aren’t so beholden to the Rotten Tomatoes barometer. Jurassic World: Dominion was shot down by film reviewers for all intents and purposes at 29% Rotten but prevailed to a $145M domestic opening. More recently, The Little Mermaid at 67% fresh saw a $118.8M four-day start. Dial of Destiny is now at 65% fresh, versus its previous chapters: Raiders of the Lost Ark (93%, 1981), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (77%, 1984), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (84%, 1989) and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (77%, 2008).
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By the way, that outlook is for the three-day weekend, not the extended five-day frame — Friday though Tuesday — of the Independence Day stretch, with the holiday falling on the last day. As is standard for July 4, moviegoing in the U.S. slows due to festive activities, so don’t expect much money on that day.
The finale, as is well known, is not directed by series architect Steven Spielberg (who is EP here), rather Logan filmmaker James Mangold.
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While Disney faced headwinds on Indy 5 coming out of its Cannes world premiere in May, it amped up the publicity with Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and cast making face-time in a way that The Flash could not, given that pic’s problems with its tabloid-headline star Ezra Miller. Disney held an L.A. premiere for Indy 5 on June 14, a London premiere on Monday, with the pic hitting Italy this past weekend at the Taormina Film Festival. Ford has been quite vocal about his swan song here as the adventurous archeologist.
A $60M+ U.S-Canada opening is in the vicinity of older-skewing dude movies like 2021’s No Time to Die ($55.2M) and 2018’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout ($61.2M). If Indy 5 is going to break out, it needs the young people to show up. The over-50 male demo is expected to show up, but this isn’t a property like Star Wars that has been able to bring along the young set as well as play broad.
RELATED: Taormina: ‘Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny’s Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge & Mads Mikkelsen Revel In ‘Raiders Of The Lost Ark’ Mythology & Guiding The Franchise To A Climax
‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ (2008)
Everett
Dial of Destiny‘s three-day will, of course, be down from the $100.1M three-day domestic of the previous movie, 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and the second-best opening for the franchise. Note that fourthquel opened on a Thursday over a Memorial Day weekend, earning $151.9M in total over five days. In results unadjusted for inflation and currency, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull opened to $272.1M worldwide. Paramount released all previous Indy movies before Disney bought Lucasfilm.
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