Indiana Jones and Dial of Destiny Struggles at Global Box Office

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny has opened to a disappointing $130 million at the global box office in its opening weekend. Marking lead Harrison Ford's last time donning the iconic hat and whip, the film heavily underperformed when taking its brand into consideration, which has historically earned Disney significant profits.

The film dug up $70 million from regions outside the US and Canada, which was to be expected given how poorly it fared critically at the Cannes Film Festival this year. Even headlines musing about Ford's five-minute standing ovation didn't come off as a strong draw for audiences. Indiana Jones 5 earned the remaining $60 million  in the US and Canada, and is tracking to build on its box office performance during the July 4 holiday in the US.

The figures look pretty bad once you take the budget into account as well, which is reported to be close to $300 million, excluding the marketing campaign that secured a film premiere spot at the Cannes Film Festival. As per Indiewire, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny might be looking at a total investment of $450 million. It's highly unlikely to see a positive turnaround for the film, given Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is right around the corner — releasing July 12 — followed by two of the biggest blockbusters this year, Greta Gerwig's Barbie and Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer. 

Indiana Jones 5 has a one-week free runway to make up for its losses, after which, I'm expecting it to head to VOD and streaming platforms. The latter is, of course, after the minimum 45-day theatrical window Disney has implemented for its movies before their arrival on Disney+.

In comparison, both Barbie and Oppenheimer are budgeted at roughly $100 million each, while Mission: Impossible is set at $290 million. Indiana Jones 5's failure to dominate comes as a bit of a shock, given the veteran 80-year-old Ford's star power was a driving force for its marketing. As per Variety, the UK was the biggest market for the film, earning $8.9 million in ticket sales. Coming in second is France with $5.9 million, followed by Japan adding $4.7 million to the pot. Korea and Germany rounded out the top five list by adding $4.1 million apiece.

July 03, 2023