Facing the worst reviews for the franchise to date, Disney and Lucasfilm are pushing forward with the fifth and final “Indiana Jones” film “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” hitting cinemas on Friday.
The box-office success of tentpole sequels in the post-pandemic era shows they are not impacted by soft or even poor reviews – “Jurassic World: Dominion” opened to $145 million domestically despite a 29% on Rotten Tomatoes. More recently, “The Little Mermaid had a $118 million four-day start from 67% positive reviews.
With 65% positive reviews on that aggregate site, ‘Dial of Destiny’ is projected to rack up a $60 million-$65 million domestic bow and $140 million global opening over the Friday-Sunday.
The U.S. numbers may see a bit soft, but with the July 4th holiday falling on a Tuesday, the film is expected to do solid business over the Friday-Tuesday period. In addition, the Independence Day weekend is generally seen as a slow moviegoing one due to other festive activities.
A $60-65 million start puts it in line with other major action tentpole franchises with aging heroes – the last Bond film “No Time to Die” debuted to $55.2 million domestically, whilst the ever-athletic Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” managed $61.2 million in its debut.
The previous film, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” opened to a three-day domestic haul of $100.1 million over the Memorial Day holiday in 2008.
Source: Deadline
