CinemaScore will tell the tale. If it's any lower than a B, this might be the first Indiana Jones movie to actually lose money — with a budget of $295 million, it's going to need $590 million just to break even, before it begins to start earning any profit.

Here's the ReelROI(tm) that the Indiana Jones franchise has generated:

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) — $21.66

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) — $11.89

Indian Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) — $9.88

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) — $4.25

In my movie ROI database, over 3,150 titles from 1915 to 2023 have paid a ReelROI(tm) of $3.50 — this Indiana Jones franchise has doubled up on that, paying a splendid $7.11

In this context, Dial of Destiny needs to bring in $885 million just to limp to a ReelROI of $3.00 falling below even Shia (!), and not even achieving that industry benchmark $3.50

"Pepper, Pepper, little Pepper."

Sounds like garbage.

"Mediocre, toxic nostalgia." https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/indiana-jones-dial-of-destiny-review-1.6893605

"Toxic nostalgia" – that's a new one for me although, on reflection, I recognize areas quite aptly captured in the term.

I was 11 years old when THE schoolyard question was "Have you seen Raiders?" Adventure, thrills, frights, mature-ish themes that made kids feel older than than they were, campy action and even some mild gore - "fun fest" was an understatement.

Those who missed it in its time may not be able to connect. Of course, for those around my age who do see it, they'll be the ones to say whether this one hit or missed.

Curiously enough, even though I might be in the nostalgia demographic target, I was not planning to see it on opening weekend. I may get to it in theatre at some point -- Top Gun: Maverick took me right back to 1986, so, hey, nostalgia can hit all the right buttons if done right.

This movie gets a CinemaScore of B+, but its low opening at the box office this weekend and the expected dropoff in the second weekend, means it won't make a profit.

... Excerpt from ‘Indiana Jones 5’ Won’t Reverse Disney’s Recent Box Office Woes:

Current box office projections have Harrison Ford’s final turn as the legendary archeologist making $65 million in its opening weekend, well below the $100 million 3-day opening of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” on Memorial Day weekend in 2008 and well short of the opening weekend needed for a film with a reported production budget of around $295 million.

@wonder2wonder said:

This movie gets a CinemaScore of B+,

Every Indiana Jones movie, ranked.

Are you surprised by where this writer ranked Dial of Destiny...?!

@DRDMovieMusings said:

@wonder2wonder said:

This movie gets a CinemaScore of B+,

Every Indiana Jones movie, ranked.

Are you surprised by where this writer ranked Dial of Destiny...?!

It all depends on the writer and who is the publisher. I've seen some articles where critics rank it as third, and in other articles it is fourth or fifth (the worst).

Financially speaking, it will end as fifth.

@wonder2wonder said:

@DRDMovieMusings said:

@wonder2wonder said:

This movie gets a CinemaScore of B+,

Every Indiana Jones movie, ranked.

Are you surprised by where this writer ranked Dial of Destiny...?!

It all depends on the writer and who is the publisher. I've seen some articles where critics rank it as third, and in other articles it is fourth or fifth (the worst).

Financially speaking, it will end as fifth.

Yep. With a budget of $295 million, Dial of Destiny have to reach $1.253 billion just to match KotCS pay of $4.25, and all the indicators seem to be saying that's not going to happen.

I've seen the movie today and everyone loved it.

It was very good!

@wonder2wonder said:

** SPOILERS **

• "Bad writing, bad dialogue, badly conceived character and an unlikeable actress. She is insufferable. Who wants to watch this garbage?" - video

• "They make the men weaker in their personality and the women weaker in terms of their appeal." - video

** SPOILERS **

• SPOILERS - "Female lead not age-appropriate, no sexual tension. The thing that ruined the movie for me is..." - Full review - video

So Phoebe Waller-Bridge didn't make those posters feel funny in their pee-pees? Doesn't mean that the film is bad. The last point is particularly ridiculous. She's supposed to be Indy's god-daughter, so is eminently age-appropriate and sexual tension between her and Indy would be totally inappropriate.

Not that the film overly impressed me, but those points sound like typical desperate for views man-babies.

Well the folks in Cannes didn't seem to like it and most of reviews that followed that premiere weren't very complimentary where the most heard complaints were the uneveness of the story ,the advanced age of Ford , the very meagre story and the female lead (Waller-Bridge) being something of an insuffrable twat (BBC- review).Also Disney is keeping secret what the actual budget of this movie is.Sites say 295 Million but the real budget is more likelly to be around the 400 million with all the last minute reshoots , Ford's injuries and having to slap on a new end( originally Jones is suppose to die and Waller- Bridge taking over the mantle but test views scored so low they had to fix that) .

This movie is on it's way in becoming the most expensive movie flop since John Carter with an estimated budget of 400 million and a promotion budgetg of 150-200 million this movie needs to make a billion to break even and judging from the numbers people aren't going out en masse for this movie it's curently made 160 million WORLDWIDE And with the domestic boxoffice (which included a 4th July weekend) not even reaching 100 million this movie is doing even worse than The Flash and it already lost it's current US number one position to Sound Of Freedom a movie with a budget of 14 million and next week with the release of the highly anticipated Mission Impossible movie Indy 5 is very unlikely to raise those earnings significantly making it another Disney movie released this year that lost money.

It's not going to make it. Sad end to a storied franchise but the numbers are what they are.

@NeoLosman said:

@DRDMovieMusings said:

It's not going to make it. Sad end to a storied franchise but the numbers are what they are.

This hasn't been a storied franchise for eons now though. As someone pointed out, Indiana Jones hasn't been front and center of the cultural conversation since The 80s. And even by time The Last Crusade came around, IJ was looking goofy compared to most movie heroes

Each installment hadn't been great, but the franchise itself will always be storied. Same can be said for other storied franchises like Die Hard, or Terminator, or Star Wars...

I saw it last night, I enjoyed it. It was much much better than the last Indy movie by miles and miles.