The good news for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is that Haunted Mansion has at least managed to steal some of its thunder as Disney’s newest bomb, one that’s already tracking to become the worst performer an entire subgenre of cinema has seen for 20 years, so there’s that.
That’s about the only positive to be derived from the fifth and final installment’s disastrous run at the box office, though, and things have become more cruelly ironic than ever before as the Mouse House sifts through the rubble of a year that’s somehow generated upwards of $4 billion in ticket sales despite delivering bomb after bomb after bomb.
Dial of Destiny is beginning to wind down its theatrical run having accrued $368 million so far, bad news for a blockbuster that cost $295 million before marketing. What makes it even worse is that it’s now virtually impossible for the Indiana Jones sequel to catch the $393 million of Solo: A Star Wars Story, which was fighting an uphill battle from day one on account of making a film about an iconic Harrison Ford character that doesn’t actually feature Harrison Ford.
The behind the scenes upheaval didn’t help matters, but when Solo still flopped so badly it ended both the Anthology experiment and Disney’s plans to release a Star Wars epic every single year, it’s not a very good look for Dial of Destiny. It’s one of those things you couldn’t possibly make up, but that’s generally how things seem to be going for the company in 2023.
