It seems like the 5-minute standing ovation at this year’s Cannes Film Festival is not enough to save Disney and Lucasfilm’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny at the global box office.
Indiana Jones 5’s lukewarm early reactions must have augmented the stress levels of Disney and Lucasfilm executives. The upcoming Harrison Ford starrer has already been screened out of the Cannes competition. The film’s early reviews and Rotten Tomatoes score have worsened things for the producers. Early critical reception towards the movie has been mostly mixed, with praise directed at the performances of Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and Mads Mikkelsen and John Williams’ musical score. Though, the CGI and the storyline were not met with enthusiasm.
Furthermore, many critics have pointed out the film’s overreliance on nostalgia, which Disney is becoming increasingly notorious for. The studio gave a similar treatment to Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (2019). This “garbage” might have minted over $1 billion at the global box office, but it also emerged as the weakest Star Wars feature of all time. And it seems like the same may happen with Indiana Jones 5.
Another thing that must augment Disney and Lucasfilm’s problems is the film’s huge budget. The fifth instalment of the Indiana Jones franchise has been made with an enormous budget of $300 million. And it has only twelve clear days (if Insidious: The Red Door turns out unimpressive) to mint as much money as it can before the arrival of Tom Cruise’s highly anticipated Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, scheduled to release in theatres worldwide on July 12. Then, moviegoers will witness the “epic” box office battle between Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, both scheduled to come out in theatres on July 21.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiney currently stands at 50% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 30 reviews. It will release worldwide on June 30. Stay tuned for more updates.