Global Courant
Indiana Jones has begun his last box office crusade, with the fifth franchise entry earning $24 million on its opening day from 4,600 theaters. It’s a figure that includes $7.2 million in Thursday previews.
The release from Disney and Lucasfilm is expected to debut near the bottom of projections, projecting a three-day opening of $60 million or so. It’ll be more than enough for the Harrison Ford action-adventure film to land in the top spot on domestic charts, setting itself up to draw crowds through the Fourth of July holiday — but it’s not exactly the victorious tone-setter for one of the 20 or so most expensive blockbusters ever made. With a whopping $295 million production budget, “Indiana Jones 5” faces quite the trek to theatrical profitability.
The skies have been cloudy for “Dial of Destiny” for several weeks now, ever since the franchise finale made a splashy debut at the Cannes Film Festival and earned reviews that could be kindly described as mixed. The film has balanced out at a 58% approval rating from top critics on Rotten Tomatoes. In Variety’s review, critic Owen Gleiberman wrote that “James Mangold’s action epic is made in the style of Steven Spielberg, but the exhilaration is gone.”
The first round of ticket buyers are more positive, as indicated by the “B+” grade through research firm Cinema Score, but that’s not a level of excitement that’s appropriate for a homecoming of a beloved franchise, especially one of this scale.
The last feather in Indy’s cap was “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” which opened to $100 million over the Memorial Day holiday in 2008 and legged out a $790 million worldwide gross. That film drew its own middling reception, which may have taken away some of the thrill of the franchise for audiences. It’ll be difficult for “Dial of Destiny” to match the final gross of its predecessor.
James Mangold took the director’s seat for this outing after franchise co-creator Steven Spielberg bowed out during a lengthy development process. “Dial of Destiny” sees a weathered Indiana Jones searching for a mystical artifact with the power to change the course of history. The professorial rascal is accompanied by his goddaughter, Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), in a race against former Nazi Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) for the treasure.
More to come…
