Indiana Jones dials “U” for underwhelming box office
The latest Disney release to under perform this summer whips up $24 million at the Friday box office
Aux News Indiana Jones
Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny, Disney’s latest attempt at dredging the I.P. swamps for the most recognizable character the studio could build a Volume Stage around, isn’t the artifact of box office hope the Mouse House expected. Whipping up $24 million in domestic ticket sales, Variety projects the movie will fall somewhere in the $60 million range over the weekend, which is about as well as The Flash. While many viewers may be saving the fireworks display of a de-aged Harrison Ford for the Fourth of July, these projections reflect the opinion many have had since the film’s Cannes premiere: Indiana Jones belongs in a museum.
In May, critics first turned The Dial Of Destiny at France’s most famous film festival. Though many expressed the polite opinion of “Sure, we guess that’ll do,” the movie received its obligatory Cannes’ five-minute standing ovation. Mixed reviews followed, and if the “B+” CinemaScore has anything to say (versus the “A-” frickin’ Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken received), audiences aren’t digging The Dial Of Destiny as much as many hoped—at least not at the levels that audiences should for a movie that cost a reported $295 million and features the words “Indiana Jones” in the title. However, it’s not like CinemaScore means everything. DreamWorks likely assumed they would take a bath on Kraken, considering they opened it against Jones and its 4,600 theaters, but Variety reports the Teenage Kraken “doesn’t have any hope to recoup its $70 million production budget” either.
So what happened? Superhero fatigue? Bad trailers? Audiences still burned after they helped Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull gross nearly $800 million at the worldwide box office? It’s hard to say because Disney hasn’t had a bonafide hit that didn’t require an asterisk this year. But it speaks to a downturn in excitement for Disney’s never-ending intellectual property parade. The last season of The Mandalorian came and went; Quantumania hit with a thud; Elemental is another box office bust for Pixar; The Little Mermaid is bottoming out below all other “live-action” remakes except Dumbo; and Secret Invasion is also on television. Even the Disney stuff people like, such as Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 and Andor, don’t seem to leave much of an impression. For example, Guardians did half as much business as Chris Pratt’s other 2023 hit: The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
Keep in mind; this is a Disney problem because recognizable I.P. is what people crave: Sony’s Across The Spider-Verse is shaping up to be the movie of the summer; Universal’s billion-dollar grosser, Super Mario Bros. is still this year’s biggest hit; and despite The Flash stumbling, the hype around Warner Bros.’ Barbie is very real. Maybe it’s time, and we mean this as constructively as possible, for Disney to turn off the sequel, remake, and reboot fire hose, and try something different. But who knows, maybe [sigh] a Haunted Mansion reboot will turn it all around.
185 Comments
I think it’s a combination of not wanting to see an 80 year old Indy and people remembering how terrible Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was.
It also doesn’t help that I had literally no idea the film was out.Disney seems to be dropping the ball on properly marketing movies a lot lately.
This is my impression as well. It wasn’t until I started seeing Indy-centric articles here that I realized this film was coming out.
Probably a bad sign when the AV Club is doing a better job marketing your film than you are.
How about only 1 of out every 5 blockbuster movies is actually performing since the “end” of the pandemic.
People aren’t avoiding theaters because they’re scared of COVID, though. It seems like the pandemic accelerated a trend in favor of streaming at home over the theatrical viewing experience. Theaters were closed for a year-plus, too many big budget movies were dumped on streaming, and the spell wore off. Theaters are too expensive and inconvenient, home theater technology has gotten too good, and audiences know if they wait a few weeks the same movies will be available to watch at home.One legacy of the pandemic is a permanent change in the movie industry’s business model.
People aren’t going less because of Covid. People are going less because it cost to damn much. For us, a family of four, it’s hundred dollars(if we hit a matinee on a discount ticket day and only stick to one large popcorn that we share and the wife and I share a drink) for less then three hours of entertainment. For $45 more dollars I can buy a pass for my family(and a guest!) to go to one of our amazing local museums (I’m in Chicago) for the entire year. If it’s MSI, that even includes free parking.
Ah, but CGI Indy drank from the Grail, so 80 is called Just Getting Started.™
Also, as we just saw with Batman ‘89 in The Flash, and Terminator & Doctor Sleep bombing hard a few years ago in the same window….some old IP are just unrecognizably old to younger audiences. Indy’s had one movie in the last 34 years — and a movie not many people like! — so as beloved as Indy is, there’s certainly a lot of people 35 and under who just see the property as “old adventure guy in a funny hat”.
Protip; Crystal Skull made 900 million in a time before the Bajillionty dollar cuck club started proclaiming anything that didn’t make a billion dollars was a bomb or a flop…Because YOU don’t like something doesn’t make it a flop. Amazing Spider-Man 2 made almost 900 million, Batman v Superman theatrical cut made almost 800 million….Again because YOU don’t like something doesn’t mean it flopped.
Yeah, we got tickets for this past Thursday, including for our 15 year old. She watched Raiders and Last Crusade at some point with us in the last year or so, but wasn’t super into it, she was kind of “It should be fun” in not the most enthusiastic way, but likes going out, so knowing I could refund them, I mentioned Across the Spider-Verse (I knew she had mentioned wanting to see this …), a got a big, super enthusiastic YES!So we swapped the tickets out and had a blast, it’s pretty fantastic. I guess to your point: Indy has his day, at this point, it’s kind of just a nostalgia play, which can be fun, I’m sure the wife and I will enjoy it at some point, but relying on that plus the lackluster execution (from what I’m reading), that’s not going to be a major BO performer.
Don’t badmouth the hat.
I’m not sure that holds water when you can literally watch any of those things at any time still because of streaming/home video/they’re probably on same cable channel right now.
I’m not a younger audience at all but I recognize that films are made by a large group of people and if you wait 10 years you’re unlikely to get any of the same people making the new ones. If you like the original films, you’re simply not getting something similar just because the same music is playing and the same guy is on the screen. I didn’t see the most recent Ghostbusters film because nothing about the tone, pacing, look, or feel of it resembled a Ghostbusters film based on the trailers, it looked like it had the things in it that made the same noises. I wasn’t that excited for the return of Michael Keaton Batman because where’s Tim Burton? I know I’m not speaking for everyone here but you can’t milk nostalgia for an old thing by assembling an entirely new thing and incorporating some old parts, the human brain doesn’t work like that.
“ old adventure guy in a funny hat”=Priscilla Queen of the Desert II!
Old Batman makes more sense to me because I can see him never giving up the cause until he dies. I can see Jones actually retiring eventually. Also it’s a lot easier to CGI deage a mostly masked Batman.
Its literally been out for a day and a half.
He felt too old in Crystal Skull, he was more passionate in Force Awakens but even then he felt limited. At 80? This is well beyond reason.
The Indiana Jones movies have always aimed to be B movies anyway right? That was their source of inspiration. It should wear it’s Cinemascore B grade as a badge of honor. Mission accomplished you’re officially a B-movie.I not only remember Crystal Skull? But I remembered that there was a vodka brand with the same name fronted by Dan Aykroyd. That was a thing right? Right?
This movie performing poorly isn’t squarely on Disney. The previous film was awful, Harrison Ford is too old, and George Lucas still had input in the story. George Lucas shouldn’t be allowed near any beloved IPs at this point. Does anyone remember the Star Wars prequels? The man can world build, but he cannot write for s**t.
The Prequels make the ST look like special ed Spongebob.
George is fine as long as there’s somebody else to write the dialogue and push back against his worst ideas.
So much this. He’s the space fantasy version of Gene Roddenberry.
(I realize how on the nose that is, but applies to their weaknesses as well.)
I swear, the most important person on the original trilogy was the intern they had to distract George on set.“Hey, you know, I’ve been thinking about the Ewoks and I really think they need to dance – you know, have a cute little dance that allows them to draw the power from the moon-”“Uh- hey, er, Mr. Lucas? Yeah, Steve from Security called. Said someone broke into your car. Cops are there, you need to give a statement.”
Oh shut the fuck up already. You guys bullied him off Star Wars forever, what more do you want? He also had nothing to do with this one.
“You guys bullied him off Star Wars forever”George Lucas cries himself to sleep on his $4 billion bed of money.
George Lucas had fuck all to do with the movie or its story. He only came in as an executive producer after seeing the first cut of the movie.
You forget, Disney didn’t have to make the film. They didn’t have to use an 80 year old Harrison Ford. And they didn’t need to make a sequel to Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.This is entirely on them. They could’ve just made another film in the 40s, maybe 50s, and make it take place after The Last Crusade, and mostly ignore Crystal Skull’s existence.They didn’t.They also could also just not make a film.They didn’t.
I also think in a world where they had a crystal ball, they’d love to go back and put Ke Huy Quan and is comeback story front in center in a film. I truly think that would have gotten some butts in seats because everyone loves him and it would have given them a legacy character.One of Indy’s biggest weaknesses as a nostalgia factory is there really are very few legacy characters to bring back in.
The biggest problem with Indy as a nostalgia factory is that they were late in trying it with Crystal Skull, and now they’re 15 years beyond that.
When they got rid of Lucas’ ideas for the SW sequels, we ended up with Rise of Skywalker. I’ll take any of the prequels over that garbage.
Is Rise of the Beasts underperforming because of Disney? What about The Flash? What about Fast X? What about Dungeons & Dragons?
Or is Disney just a good scapegoat for the problem of oversized budgets and audiences getting more comfortable with waiting for VOD and streaming?
I thought Dungeons & Dragons did well? It didn’t overperform but it had legs and good word of mouth, and they were already talking sequel by the end of opening weekend.
It barely made more than its budget. Factoring marketing in, it’s not a success. They poured a bunch of money into what will become a cult favorite.
It did great its first weekend but suffered from coming out a week before Mario which stomped on its mushroom. I did read that it did fairly well internationally and did good rental numbers. I think we may get a cheap sequel with a cheaper cast. It’s a shame because it was a lot of fun
i suspect it might have done really well on VOD i’d love to see those numbers.
It’s honestly quite bad. I usually tell close friends and family members to seek out good stuff, because supporting cinema (and cinemas) is something that I think’s important. I can usually get at least a couple of people to see something they might’ve been on the fence about. To quote Starship Troopers, “I’m doing my part!”
But I feel like the evil version of myself with Indiana Jones 5. I genuinely don’t think people should bother, and if they’re desperate, rent it at home, or stream it when they can. I’ve been telling people I’m close to as much. It’s just kind of boring and lifeless to me, besides a fun (but too dimly-lit) prologue and a kind of entertaining and ridiculous climax (that still ends too suddenly) followed by a really weird final scene. Even the parts that come close to being good are flawed, and the middle 80 to 90 minutes is just shockingly bland and repetitive. Not sure where the budget (potentially as high as $295 million) went.
And I was looking forward to this! I’m not the kind of person who goes into things wanting to hate them (life’s too short, so I prefer to avoid things I don’t think I’ll like). It just made me feel sad, this movie, and not in a good way; not because it struck any emotions. It was just sad to see such a husk of a movie.
Disney hasn’t had a bonafide hit that didn’t require an asterisk this year.
Awful commentary as usual, Matt. I like how you identify two very demonstrable hits at the end of the paragraph, and then explain that they’re flops because another movie made $1.3b+ and also just because. GotG3 made over $800m and is the number two movie for the year. Just because Mario overperformed doesn’t mean everything else failed. Avatar 2 nearly made more than both billion dollar breaking movies in second and third place last year combined. That does not mean Top Gun: Maverick was not a bonafide hit.Disney wants all their movies to gross $1b or more. That’s why they put way too much money into the production, because that strategy worked almost flawlessly for so long, and execs are stupid and extremely slow to catch up to reality. But I can guarantee you they’re not worried about their brand or the state of their IPs. Meanwhile, the hype around Barbie is very much not real, and Warner Bros are certainly not looking to that to save their crumbling IP bank. Barbie is going to top off below $200m domestic, which will be fine and profitable, but not some sort of incredible coup for a company that will probably be entirely dissolved over the next five years.
Hey you! Get your damn logic off her(e)!
Also, just maybe, no studio goes on an unending winning streak. Their 2014-19 was insane.
In retrospect, that string of a few weeks that saw Endgame, Rise of Skywalker and the Game of Thrones finale feels like the end of the franchise era, although we didn’t know it at the time.
Because I’m a pedant, I’m obligated to point out that while Endgame and Game of Thrones’ finale both came out in the spring of 2019 (Apr 22 and May 19, respectively), Rise of Skywalker came out many months later, on December 16.
Everybody I know is hyped about the Barbie movie and is planning to see it in the theater. Even Spouse, a lifelong Indy fan, hasn’t mentioned this one once.
To be clear, I’m not predicting Barbie will be a dud. I think $200m domestic is optimistic, but might expect it to slide in at about $160ish, and I think even that would be a very good haul for the property. It’s got plenty going for it as regards it being a critical darling, but not a lot going for it as a possible blockbuster. Everyone I know was hyped about Dungeons and Dragons, and it couldn’t beat $100m domestic. Barbie isn’t even being marketed toward kids, the theoretical market of the brand. There’s just not a massive audience available for them to tap into.
Everyone you know is hyped about the Barbie movie? Yeah, sure they are.
That’s because most of us Indy fans know that it’s a near perfect trilogy of movies and maybe admit Young Indiana Jones was a fun show. Making a sequel was a stupid idea 15 years ago and after that train wreck it was an even worse idea now. If Disney has to milk this property then just make more Indy movies in the 30s and recast Jones. Have Ford show up in a cameo as some other guy for shits and giggles. No one wants to see an 80 year old man swing a whip
here here…‘No one wants to see an 80 year old man swing a whip’…good sir, can I direct you to some avant-garde porn sites???
Yeah the property ended correctly and the story I needed was done in Crusade. I ignored that and saw crystal skull in theaters. Not making that same mistake twice. I enjoy Ford and hope its better but fool me once.
Everyone you know is a gay man or a female child? Sex offender alert!
Its also literally only been out for about a day and a half. Yet there are already special people trying to proclaim it a bomb.
On a related note, man was it a genius marketing move to set up Oppenheimer as “the anti-Barbie.” So many more people are talking about that movie than if it was just standing on its own, even with Nolan involved.
I’m confused why an “anti-Barbie movie” should be a thing. Are people so worried about the existence of The Barbie Movie that they feel the need to watch a different movie in protest?
Wouldn’t surprise me.
They premiere on the same day and seem to have very different themes, aesthetics, etc. That’s it.
I think it’s a physics thing that I assume they’ll explain in the movie. Something like for every barbie there is an equal and opposite anti-barbie.
Now I am become Skipper, destroyer of Dream Houses.
When Barbie and Oppenheimer meet they annihilate each other, releasing clickbait.
It’s a symmetry thing, if you take Oppenheimer, invert the colors, play it backwards, and watch it in a mirror, you get the Barbie movie.
Oppenheimer would not have been a fan of Barbie back then.
Barbie V Oppie is genuinely the most fun thing in movies I’ve seen all year. Its Animal Crossing V Doon Eternal but even sillier. Its so fantastic.
Awful commentary as usual, Matt.It’s also an oddly-timed article. Usually, you want to wait until Sunday night before declaring a movie a flop.
‘”It’s also an oddly-timed article. Usually, you want to wait until Sunday night before declaring a movie a flop.”’That’s just it… He couldn’t wait. His critical commentary is irrepressible!
“such as Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 and Andor, don’t seem to leave much of an impression. For example, Guardians did half as much business as Chris Pratt’s other 2023 hit: The Super Mario Bros. Movie.”Yah this was an incredibly stupid take. Super Mario Bros is an unstoppable mushroom fueled juggernaut. Gotg3 is a success critically and commercially. It’s a bad comparison.
I shuddered at your mention of Maverick.
Disney wants all their movies to gross $1b or more. That’s why they put way too much money into the productionDisney also ultimately cares less about box office grosses in the end than they do about how the box office feeds all their other revenue streams including park attendance, toy sales and licensing. Rise of Skywalker was hot garbage from an adult film watching perspective, but my nieces happily came back from Disneyworld with all the merch their lil arms could carry. Indiana Jones doesn’t look like it’s good or great, but I’m sure they’re making money on Lego sets and toy sales even if it’s just nostalgic adults buying Indy branded stuff. How much streaming the Indy films and Young Indiana Jones is getting is probably also a factor here. I think if they had known Ke Huy Quan was going to have a massive career comeback, we might have gotten Short Round as the main sidekick which might have hit nostalgia buttons better, but that’s a whole other discussion.
You are giving them too much credit. Disney+ lost an ass-load of money despite some shady bookkeeping, ESPN has been struggling for years and Lucasfilm is a shit show and the golden goose that was Marvel is faltering. Turns out throwing $200+ million at any rando with a script that was written in 20 minutes isn’t the winning formula Kevin Feige and Kathleen Kennedy think it is. I had Disney stocks years, during the peak of the Marvel years and it didn’t do anything. It is a poorly run company.
Right, but whatever poor reception some of those movies have gotten from adult fans, they continue to sell a boatload of toys. Little Mermaid is a good example of that where there has been a lot of speculation around the toy/music/costume/meet and greet profits in addition to the box office. If Disney is eying anything with concern, it’s getting park ticket sales back where they were because that is their real cash cow.Disney goes through peaks and valleys. I have stock and it’s relatively stable and still trading high enough in most cases.
it’s almost like starting summer movie season in february burns everyone out by july.
I’m fascinated to see what happens with Barbie. It’s about as ruthless of an IP grab as we’ve seen, yet media seems desperate to make it into a hit and proclaim Greta Gerwig/Margot Robbie the co-kings of the world. Maybe it is indeed amazing. We’ll find out soon.Meanwhile, I don’t know who’s going to see it. Kids don’t play with Barbie anymore. The generation that did is in their 30s/40s on the lower end. A whole lot of them will wait to stream it.
Then again, Super Mario Bros, another wheezy old brand (though not as wheezy as Barbie) was a huge hit this year. But at least that one still puts out games, and knew it was for kids.
It was fun, dragged a bit in the middle but loved the last act. Much better than Crystal skull
Much better than Crystal skullI taken shits…
I thought it was slighly better than Crystal Skull. Both movies have the same problem strong start but gets weaker as it goes on.
But who knows, maybe [sigh] a Haunted Mansion reboot will turn it all around.Looks like it’s only going to be one movie. Where’s the 6 movie Mansion-verse, with the bellhops getting their own movie?
Disney would own Halloween that year!
The Haunted Mansion has bellhops?
Make the bellhop spinoff into a Busby Berkeley style musical, and I’ll be there opening night.
Speaking of, why is Haunted Mansion coming out this month instead of, you know, October?
Because it’s clearly a big summer block buster!!Also October is not a traditional a great month for movies. Horror does okay but overall people aren’t going to the movies in October. They are to busy on hay rides, haunted houses and nighttime corn mazes and fall shit
October is effing BUSY.
The bellhops already got their movie.
Ok, “the hype” around Barbie is real because you’re doing your part to create it—is there actual, legitimate hype around the movie, or is it just The Internet (and, let’s be real, specific corners of The Internet) creating it and wishing really hard?
To be fair Barbie’s marketing campaign is the best I’ve seen since Deadpool.
I’ve seen a fair amount of buzz around it. I have a lot of friends who are interested in seeing it, and as AimingforYoko pointed out, the marketing is great. Of course, that is anecdotal, but I don’t think there is any other way to determine that.
Barbie is almost certainly gonna be a likably fun, disposable movie that does a *very* modest box office and once again prove that what is hyped on the internet does not in any way reflect the real world.
The film is directed by Greta Gerwig and the novel Reviving Ophelia has been cited as one of the inspirations behind the film.
I think Barbie is going to pull a Lego Movie where audiences go in expecting a goofy film but then find themselves blindsided by surprisingly poignant subject matter. The trailers for the film don’t even try to hide the fact that the central plot seems to focus on Barbie in the midst of existential crisis.
Also, internet buzz can be kind iffy but Barbie looks more likely to pull a Minions (it brought in over $100 million on open weekend in part because teenage boys thought it was funny to dress up in their Sunday best and go see it) than Morbius.
I’m not saying the movie is gonna be bad! I like Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach. I’m sure that it will be fun, and probably smarter than a toy commercial ought to be. But I also think that the hype for it is largely internet-driven and probably in a bubble.
The trailers for the film don’t even try to hide the fact that the central plot seems to focus on Barbie in the midst of existential crisis.
I mean this sounds like my kind of movie, but it does not sound like the kind of movie that is going to pull in the kids and make a few hundred million dollars.
Surprise Surprise, Barbie is a Lego Movie in disguise!
You just unlocked a memory of preteen movie nerd me being convinced that Josie and the Pussycats was gonna be a box office smash because every girl and gay bestie in my peer group was talking about the music video ad campaign that would run practically every commercial break on the WB. I remember checking the box office numbers in disbelief. Anyway, the soundtrack still slaps; “Pretend to Be Nice” rules (written by Adam Schlesinger and produced by Babyface!).
Josie and the Pussycats was almost a genuinely great film which was both intelligent and subversive at the start. Pity it fumbled things at the end there. You’re still right, though. It did deserve to do better.
Preeeecisely. I believe Barbie is gonna have a similar fate. Even if it’s great, which it may very well be, I don’t think it’s gonna set the world on fire. And I think it’s gonna get clobbered by Oppenheimer, because Nolan is one of the incredibly small number of directors whose name alone still makes an event out of his releases (and I have felt his last couple of movies have been pretty dull).
I have literally never met a single person who has mentioned any desire to see Oppenheimer.
Okay, and I have. Anecdotal evidence!
You haven’t seen it EVERYWHERE?
This is the ultimate question (and what I suspect) but we’ll find out soon enough…
everyone i know who goes to the movies already has tickets. most people who don’t even care about movies are aware of it, which is more than i can say for a lot of would-be blockbusters. awareness and interest are there for sure.
I was going to ask what wokeness worked its way into Indy 5 for the right-wing hivemind to rail against, but I guess he’s back to punching Nazis, and that’s probably enough to arouse their ire.So what happened? Superhero fatigue? Bad trailers? Speaking only for myself, the trailer I saw didn’t help matters; it looked fine, but didn’t really grab me. The audience I saw it with did chortle at the whip scene, but otherwise seemed no more excited than I felt.Also, why the shade thrown at Ruby Gillman’s CinemaScore? A- seems reasonable for a film that’s being described as a fun-but-predictable family film with terrific visuals. It’s not like it’s The Boss Baby or Bee Movie.
From what I’ve seen, chuds hate it because a woman is in it. Even worse, it’s a funny woman!
“Even worse, it’s a funny woman!”And she’s tall!
Shameful.
I know, right? It’s like ‘Just step on me already!’
She not really funny in it though. Just seemed like a waste of her talent to me.
My understanding of CinemaScore is that it is sensitive to audience expectations. Ruby Gillman apparently delivers exactly what it promises even if that’s not what an AV Club reviewer considers a good movie.
This, exactly. A CinemaScore under A- is cause for concern. (Well, except sometimes one can turn an F into a marketing ploy, but that’s a big risk.)
The movie’s actually quite bizarrely unwoke in how it goes out of its way to make clear all the CIA people helping the Nazis are just mercenaries rather than actual agents, and the one true agent (who also happens to be the movie’s only black person) gets fridged as soon as she learns the truth without any chance of redeeming herself.
Ha! I was personally wondering if I was the only one who noticed this, because I didn’t see anyone else pointing it out. Great point here.
Its because its a reboot, its Disney owned, definitely punching nazis angered some, but most of all, the reactionaries really fucking hate Phoebe Waller Bridge. I doubt any of them saw Fleabag, they probably hate her for being the robot in Solo that everyone called SJW bot and because she’s a woman. Its so pathetic.
I assume it gets implied that Fleabag is going to be the next Indiana Jones, which frankly is ridiculous because there has never been a woman treasure Hunter who has starred in a dozen games and several movies already.
Indiana Jones is a name, though.It’s also just creatively bankrupt/unclassy/greedy to give a hat and a whip to someone introduced in the same film you’re going to retire the person people actually care about, and then say this is the NEW version of your beloved character.People hated Shia for the similar reasons, let’s not forget.Also, some people just don’t want to see an old Indiana Jones (that’s me).
A female character exists and dares to have dialogue and agency.
I struggled when in the trailer Indy said he didn’t believe in magic and I was like “Sir, you have seen a Nazi melt and brought your father back to life with a magical cup given to you by a thousand year old night that also made another guy age into dust.”
It’s like when we’re 200+ episodes and two movies into X-Files, and Scully is still skeptical about the existence of the paranormal. Really, after all the shit you’ve seen?
He technically did not see the Nazis melt, only the aftermath. Scientifically, it could have been an unrelated astronomical phenomenon.
“And the Grail thing?”“Hey, maybe all cups heal people. Are you a cup expert? Then, shut up!”
Not to mention he survived a nuclear blast by hiding in a fridge that was thrown mumble-odd miles by the explosion; if that’s not magic, I don’t know what is.
This meme that right wingers wouldn’t want to punch literal Nazis is maybe the funniest meme of all.
I mean,both of your counterexamples, Across the Spiderverse and Super Mario Bros movie are exactly the same type of sequel, reboot, remakes as Disney is putting out. So why did those do well?It’s not the idea, it’s the execution. The idea is fine, it just needs to be done well and for some reason Disney is lacking some special sauce in a lot of their movies these days.
Mario Bros is neither a sequel, reboot or remake. The live action movie doesn’t really count. It’s not a new IP but it was arguably a new IP to cinemas Across the Spiderverse is a sequel and “another super hero movie” but it’s also very unique in a lot of ways. It’s a mainstream American made animated movie that is not made for children. Or even a “family” movie the way Pixar and Dreamworks makes them. It’s visually stunning, tells serious messages and is also just an amazing Spider-people movie.
If the live action Little Mermaid counts as a remake of the animated Little Mermaid, then animated Super Mario Bros counts as a remake of the live action Super Mario Bros.Sure, Across the Spiderverse “feels unique” but that’s just the same as saying “was well done”. It’s still the same type of movie, within the same general trend of exploiting IP, just well executed.
I mean Across the Spiderverse was a the long-awaited sequel to a very well-regarded film and Spiderman in general performs well – No Way Home was hardly a slouch. Super Mario Bros was a reboot in the loosest sense of the word, but is an IP that has multiple generations of nostalgia. In this case, I think Disney (and the internet) has overestimated how interested people under 30 (or even 40) are into Indiana Jones.That said, there’s also a sense that if Disney isn’t making a billion dollars per film every film is a failure. Guardians of the Galaxy made $800 million worldwide. Little Mermaid made $507 million, but a few outlets reported that this is around the number needed for profitability when you factor in all other revenue streams (Little Mermaid is about selling toys and meet and greets in the park as much as it is the movie). Additionally, it outperformed Super Mario Bros. in some international markets. I’m sure Disney would like to see their movies back to a $1 billion a movie, but the number of tentpoles has shrunk post-Covid and studios need to grapple with that.
mermaid, while not an outright flop, doesn’t look like it’ll break even.
Deadline Hollywood and a few other sources have reported that between $500 million and $532 million was box office profit point for the film based on the ancillary revenue streams (toys, tie-ins, costumes, music etc).
Recognizable I.P. is what people crave? No. Brawndo™ is what people (and plants) crave. It’s got electrolytes.
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
I got to see it on Friday night and oh boy. What did I watch? We see Indy old and lazy as a grumpy old man near the start of the film and by the end he time travels to 214 AD? The contrast there. Silly! They really went there. I know these films have fantastical elements to them, but this was ridiculous even for an Indy film. I really thought Indy was going to stay in 214 AD too. I was like, please don’t do this movie. Thankfully they didn’t do that.
The de-aging looked pretty great, but Indy was too quiet for long periods of time. Indy always talks to himself about the situation he’s in or he groans to himself. This de-aged Indy seemed at times like a mute with long stretches of silence. You can tell the hardest part for the VFX was moving his mouth and lips. They used it sparingly.
I liked elements of this film and had fun with them, but I also found flaws here and there and was bothered by the overuse of CG. I will say the ending with Marion teared me up. But I kept thinking the surprise was going to be Mutt. Indy’s goddaughter tells Indy, I went back in time and told him not to enlist in the army. That would have been too cringy even for this movie.
I saw this last night and it’s actually worse than Crystal Skull. Phoebe Waller-Bridge is horrifically miscast in this movie. She is so unlikeable and just took me out of the movie every time I saw her punch a guy and knock him out. Also, why the need to make her seem like she’s so attractive that men would literally die for her. She’s fine, but they make her seem like the most desirable woman in the world in the movie. Guys just stop in the streets to gawk at her. She’s honestly very awkward looking but they really want to stress how beautiful she is in the movie. This is another classic Kathleen Kennedy making the hero of a franchise the sad, weak old man that needs a young woman to rescue him. People are tired of it and aren’t going to pay for it anymore. This movie sucks and it’s clear it was reshot dozens of times as scenes are just spliced together. Disney gets what they deserve with this flop. Too bad Indy had to go out like this though.
Movie-quality-considerations aside, it’s been in the theaters for a little more than a single day (and a day in which a lot of people are going to be traveling, no less), let’s not stick the knife into its ribs just yet.
aside from weird outliers like ‘the greatest showman’ you can pretty much tell after day one.
They can make a second live action take of 101 Dalmatians for all I care. Movies nowadays are like confort food, not so much to satisfy your cravings but to dull them.Still, I’m going to watch it, out of brand loyalty if you will. I swallowed IJ & The Crystal Skull with a straight face, I surely can deal with this one. = )
Brand loyalty is such a weird concept for me. I maybe did this when I was younger but life is to short to watch shitty sequels and spin offs for franchises I love.
I never cared for the TV serial of Indiana Jones. And not even The X-Files -which I to this day still watch- made me watch its spinoffs Millenium or The Lone Gunmen.
Do you mean a third? Because Cruella already was the second take on live action Dalmatians.
Let’s leave it at “another”.
Do you mean a fourth? Because 102 Dalmatians was the second take on live action Dalmatians.(In my mind, it was a DTV sequel, but apparently it was released theatrically [and was nominated for a Best Costume Design Oscar])
Wasn’t there also a second Glenn Close one?
I hear you guys will soon be publishing AI-created content. Starting to think that will be an improvement.
I thought they already were
The union recently mentioned that the idiots in charge intend to test it in the near future. What we get now is just shitty writing.
It’s absolutely bonkers that the latest Indy Jones movie cost 300 FRICKIN’ million dollars. How? Why?
i mean ford probably got 75 of it. plus covid considerations raised budgets as much as 25%.
A lot of it was development costs. When Mangold signed on, he only did so because he was allowed to delay production for an entire year. That kind of time costs a lot of money. Add in paychecks for people like Spielberg (even if he’s not directing), Kennedy, Ford, et al, it’s going to get expensive quick.
Saw it yesterday. It was just mildly okay, which is a damn disappointment. I’ll let it settle, but for now I’d put it down there with Temple of Doom. SpoilersI think it was a huge mistake to kill off Mutt, no matter how much people hated his character. Indy dealing with something that sad doesn’t belong in the Indy universe. It’s a pulp adventure kind of universe. It’s supposed to be super fun with a happy ending with a bow on it and everything. That kind of grief doesn’t belong here.
I was really surprised to read that they did that. It would have been so easy to have a throw-away line about him adventuring off-screen somewhere if they felt the need to explain his absence at all. (Adult children have their own lives sometimes!)
See, for me, the moment I heard it was going to be set in ‘68, I thought, “Oh, so Mutt’s dead.”
I was fine with Mutt’s death but it wouldn’t make sense that he would join the army willingly nor that Indy and marion would separate and divorce over that. Also I guess my problem is the villain isn’t as threatening or interesting as the other ones. Mads Mikkleson character is very much kind of lame even for the bad guy.
Who?
Idon’t know if that makes the Top 10 things wrong. Poorly directed. No characters developed. Jones isn’t likable. No story, just a sequence of set pieces. Boring action. Action all in close up. Too long. Bland villains. No humor. Misuse of score. That kid flying the plane backstory. All dialog screamed during chase scene. The Toby Jones character.
Yes I stole all my untrue talking points from Youtube grifters, why do you ask
No story, just a sequence of set pieces.
They really tried to follow the Force Awakens playbook of hitting all the points people remember from the first 3 and then building a story around them. But it just turned out to be too many trips to the well.
I think they could have simply recast him. I still don’t know how we reached this moment where it’s understood nobody else but the actor who originated a role can ever play it. But Shia LeBeouf isn’t Chadwick Bozeman or Anton Yelchin: He didn’t die tragically young. He just grew up to be an epic douche.
If Mutt in his 30’s had somehow magically morphed into Adam Driver, I’d have gone along with it. They could’ve had a scene where Indy was like, “Boy, you really had me worried with that motorcycle crash, Kid. Those surgeons did a pretty good job.” And Mutt would be like, “Yep – I learned my lesson. I’ll never ride my bike without a helmet again.”
It’s because the only people seeing old-ass IP are basic bitches. What’s selling now? Original, interesting shit. And original, interesting twists on old IP. Basic movies, basic people, basic box office.
Disney executives. Its time to whip it, whip it good!
A lot of people are real sour Flash bombed. I don’t know why either. They want another movie to bomb harder to ignore Flash’s failure. They say it’s the last comic book movie bastion when Across the Spider-Verse is doing well. If they really cared, they would have gone to see it instead of the free screening.
Not to mention Guardians 3 did fine a few months back as well. Certain fan groups, especially around the DC movies, have a real hard time with the fact that maybe the majority of people don’t actually like these movies. Sure it means they may not get the cinematic universe they hoped for but no one is taking away The Flash or Black Adam. They can watch them for years to come.
Not necessarily. Zazslav will probably take them off HBO Max in a month.
I’m really surprised on this one, since it leaned so hard into nostalgia – I figured it would have been the Force Awakens or Jurassic World of the franchise, making a billion dollars just off that. It still could make pretty decent money if the next-week drop-off isn’t too bad, although Mission Impossible 7 is then going to steal the box office in two weeks’ time.
I think the nostalgia train may finally be leaving the station. Also both of those franchises benefitted from having new cast come in to carry most the movie. Indiana Jones suffers from the fact that the character himself is the franchise.
Studio’s treatment of nostalgia (i.e. “Who cares if the movie is good – if we throw in something people used to love, they’ll come see it anyway”) is reminiscent of late 90s/early 00s movie-based video games. By and large those games were awful and nothing more than an attempt to cash in on a currently popular movie. At some point, consumers are going to want some more substance. I haven’t seen Indy 5 yet but it seems to be trading heavily on Indy nostalgia rather than a brand new story.
I’m real interested in seeing MI7’s numbers, because a lot of buzz around Top Gun: Maverick was that Tom Cruise is still a huge draw. I actually think that might still be true overseas, but I don’t think it’s necessarily true here. Previous MI movies have done pretty well, but not spectacularly, and most of their earnings are international, like the F&F movies. I think the biggest appeal of TG:M was actually that the nostalgia was aimed at a crowd that is not being catered to by all these cartoon and cape movies. If that’s the case, it’s likely to settle in around the same place Fast X landed, around $6-700m, with a lackluster domestic. If I’m wrong, I guess Tom Cruise is actually back, and we’ll all have to gear up for Top Gun: Moon.In any case, I don’t see it having much effect on Indiana Jones, which even in a best case scenario will be collecting modest audiences past week 3.
Let’s not ignore the novelty of a fighter jet-based movie, which very much appeals to men, and the massively good optics of using REAL fighter jets for the film.In point of fact, it’s probably that association alone that goes with Cruise that makes him work overseas. The use of not only practical effects, but actual stunts, is consistent with Cruise. It’s really the only thing different about him from most others. I mean, how many actors would scale fucking mountains for a stunt?I can only think of the one. Cruise cares about his craft, that’s for damn sure, personal beliefs be damned.
i think mission impossible is gonna be the biggest movie of the summer.
Nostalgia might have had some impact on TG:M, but I think it’s much simpler: the movie was just fun to watch, so it got good word of mouth.
The movie is uncomplicated and the fighter plane stuff is cool as hell, especially on a big screen.
Having perhaps the only bona fide movie star left in the world didn’t hurt either, but I think it was just simply that the movie was good.
Hot take: the problem with the last couple Indiana Jones sequels were that they got it sooooo right with Raiders, and then got the nostalgia sooooo right with Last Crusade, so anything after that was just going to be diminishing returns.
It’s like Paramount totally sticking the landing with STVI and then deciding to crap on it with Generations. They should’ve just rolled into First Contact (or another TNG-only film) and been done with it.
IIRC they were so concerned with “passing the torch” directly between Kirk and Picard in Generations that it effectively forced the creation of the Nexus plot line. Like, Star Trek knows how to do interesting time travel stories, but couldn’t think of one for a movie when it would have been most appropriate?!
CGI has killed action movies.
Shame, it’s terrific. Hopefully word of mouth will give it legs.
Word of mouth will doom it even harder.
It’s because everyone buying tickets is using their Senior Citizen discount.
The fact this movie exists baffles me. *No one* really wanted it.- Conservative chuds are pro-nazi now, and Indy hates nazis- Liberals have realized how racist the old movies can be and would rather not think about the lack of agency non-whites have in stories about their own cultures. (When Temple of Doom comes up in conversation on podcasts, it’s referred to as “that really racist one?”)The entire premise just has such limited appeal in 2023. We know what unimaginative revision to expect so Indy is more palatable to modern audiences who now care about consent, agency, and the brutal way colonialism affected the places featured in the films.A version of this that was really, really good could have overcome those things the same way the complete blandness of Mission impossible’s characters seems to be ignored for incredible spectacle every few years. But then the reviews were released early, a mistake on Disney’s part, and we are left with a tepid box office.
lol conservatives had no idea nazis even configured into the plot. But of course it’s kosher that any republican= nazi so you folks are really the boy who called wolf anymore and should never be taken seriously. And your reasoning overall is more apt to someone that thinks Twitter and Vox are representative of real life (it’s not).
I think Harrison Ford wanted to make it. He’s always been on record about how he doesn’t give a damn about Han Solo and wishes people would stop asking him to portray him, but he just loves being Indiana Jones.Also, Indy was wrapped up with Star Wars in the obscene billions Disney paid for Lucasfilm. And the ride at Disneyland remains one of their most popular. So doing something with the IP was probably inevitable.
To be honest I liked most of it but it reminded me of “Time Bandits” with the map replaced by two halves of a dial! To much Waller-Bridger or what ever her name is but there’s too much of her,
At last this site is accepting reality. Disney is failing mostly because it is producing shit.
Andor is the most talked about Star Wars product in like a decade. What, in your mind, would constitute “much of an impression”? My suggestion, instead of inventing a stupid take and trying to contort reality to match it, consider engaging with reality and writing your article based on your observations.
Critically, perhaps, but in terms of a cultural discussion and zeitgeist, and most importantly viewership it did not do that great, especially when compared to Mando. They had to drop the opening three episodes on Hulu to get people even remotely interested.
Andor is the Star Wars show for people who a) don’t like the rest of modern Star Wars, and b) are willing to watch through a boring beginning of another Star Wars property to get to something they may or may not like. It didn’t carry the audiences who’ve been watching the rest of the SW properties, and the people who did watch Andor spend their time trashing the other properties and not tuning into them, which further convinces the larger SW audience not to bother. It doesn’t sell toys, yogurt, or pajamas, so there’s no marketing tie-in to pad the bottom line. By every Disney metric, it’s a flop.
uhh i think ‘the last jedi’, for better and mostly for worse, will remain the most talked about star wars property of the last decade.
Without a doubt. Andor might be the most praised- which is a hell of a low bar to clear, btw— but more has been written/blogged/YT videoed about the sequels (TLJ especially) than Andor could ever hope to see if it runs for the next ten years.
I enjoyed it. But given the last installment, and Ford’s age, my expectations were pretty low. I enjoyed it much more than Crystal Skull, but wasn’t like seeing Raiders for the first time or anything. Indy Jones was maybe my favorite blockbuster franchise growing up (after James Bond), so I’m happy they left it in a better place than it had been.
On the other hand, that Uncharted film from last year, which most critics dismissed as an Indy ripoff, was about as well made and entertaining.
I mean, who cares, though?I agree that Indy is a very old franchise that the majority of younger movie goers have little knowledge of (or at least little ingrained affection for.)As an old guy who grew up with Indy, I’m delighted they made this movie, as it is so much better than the last outing and is a much more fitting end for the character and the series.Is it a perfect movie? No. Is it in the same league as the films from the 80s? No. Am I glad it was made and did I have fun? Definitely.At the same time, would I also be happy if Hollywood stopped strip-mining the past? Also definitely.I worry about what movies will look like in 10-20 years, since we’re not creating new entertainments and new franchises, we’re just cannibalizing the past. We’ll soon be out of 80s movies to relaunch or reboot.
FYI:
The Dr Emilio Lizardo
(account: paging-doctor-parody)
imposter account
posting here in this thread is NOT
the long-established
account user known in the Giz
family.
The
shriveled-soul imposter has several accounts
being used to harass
Kinja users, by posting sexist,
racist and other vileness
here , but primarily on The
Root and on Jezebel,
trying to discredit the actual,
long-established account users.If the real Dr Emilio does post here, it’ll be account: dremiliolizardo and won’t be racist.
I took my Dad to see Indy last night amongst a crowd of mostly seniors. It was a hoot! Every punch thrown was a haymaker! They really nailed the old school adventure choreo. The cold open with young Indy was kind of badass.
I didn’t grow up with Harrison Ford but what I’ve seen of him in older films they did seem to nail his energy for young Indy. It was cool to get a taste of that.
You said it yourself, people were burned on Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, so asking them to see another one where Indy is even older is a hard sell even if they stick a digital deaged Harrison Ford in the marketing. If they ever plan to do more Indy content in the future (which is questionable if this one doesn’t get a big bump fast) they need to bite the bullet and cast a new actor and just set it in the past, Solo-style.Plus there’s just relevance to consider. It’s been 15 years since the last movie, and 34 since the last GOOD movie. They’re trying to sell a character to basically a whole new generation and hope that their parents have made them fans of the old movies in the meantime. Hell, if you want to feel old, the hardest of the hardcore Indy fans at this point may well be grandparents trying to get the kids out to the theater to watch this old man have an adventure.
i’ve been watching the seating charts for indiana jones on the app (you can preview what tickets have been sold) and i was seeing as few as 4 imax tickets sold for screenings. this is abysmal. it was less than half sold out opening night, and i’m in a major city. it’s a straight flop.
Made more than The Flash on opening weekend.
Woke does not sell. Dial is woke…the male hero is a broken shell of aging toxic masculinity who is saved by the female hero. ..why is anyone surprised that is rejected by Indy fans? Go woke, go broke.