While Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny didn't quite live up to studio expectations at the box office, the film is not a total bomb, as it has now officially broken even on its exorbitant budget.
Collider reports that the sequel, which is the fifth installment of the Indiana Jones movie series, has reached $302 million at the international box office. That pushes the film just past its estimated budget of $300 million. Around $145 million was earned domestically for Dial of Destiny while another $157 million came in from overseas ticket sales. While climbing to $302 million is commendable, the problem is how the high budget and additional marketing costs will likely result in Disney and Lucasfilm seeing very little in terms of profits made from the movie.
The reviews weren't perfect, though they were more on the positive side, as Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny sits with a 68% fresh score at Rotten Tomatoes. It's worth noting that its audience score is considerably higher with an 88% rating. Even so, while most filmgoers who saw the film appeared to enjoy it, there had been much greater expectations set upon it in terms of its box office success. There had been great hype for the film, which had made no secret that this would be Harrison Ford's final adventure with the whip and fedora.
"This is the final film in the series, and this is the last time I’ll play the character. I anticipate that it will be the last time that he appears in a film," Ford told Total Film about the Indiana Jones character. While there have been preliminary talks about a spinoff, either as another movie or in the form of a Disney+ series, it would seem that Ford's Indy won't be featured at all.
Meanwhile, the future of the Indiana Jones franchise remains unclear. Even if Ford's Indy is finished with the series, other characters could take the torch and continue on. One option would be to bring back Phoebe Waller-Bridge from the new film to continue her adventures as Helena Shaw. Ke Huy Quan has also been open about his desire to revisit Short Round following his Oscar win for Everything Everywhere All at Once. With the money that it takes to make Indiana Jones projects, however, potential spinoffs aren't looking very likely.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is playing in movie theaters.
Source: Collider