Indiana Jones and the Forbidden Flop

The newest Indiana Jones film – Dial of Destiny – is about a device you can use to change history.

And based on the film’s second weekend at the box office, Disney execs are probably wishing they could get their hands on one.

Indy 5 has earned a less-than-expected $26.2 million in US box office receipts, which wasn’t enough to maintain its one-week-long reign in the #1 spot (that honor went to horror sequel Insidious: The Red Door, which opened to $32.7 million in the US). The showing marks a less-than-epic end to the five-film franchise, which, up until this point, had boasted some of the biggest box office hits of all time:

• In 1981, Raiders of the Lost Ark opened to only $8.3 million, but the film’s popularity grew. And grew, and grew. Nine months later, Raiders was still in theaters and had brought in an inflation-adjusted $1.1 billion worldwide.
• The next two sequels – Temple of Doom and The Last Crusade both scored big, earning an inflation-adjusted ~1.0 and ~$1.2 billion, respectively.
• 2008’s Kingdom of the Crystal Skull also cruised past the billion dollar mark, with an inflation-adjusted $1.1 billion.

🍿 Zoom out: This year’s summer box office currently lags last year’s by ~4%. Whether 2023 can catch up will depend largely on blockbusters like Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, out July 12, as well as Oppenheimer and Barbie, both out July 21.