Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny belly flops into first at the box office

If I had a nickel for each time a big-budget Hollywood film flopped this year but landed at number one at the box office, I’d have two nickels. That’s not a lot, but it’s surprising that it happened twice. Following in The Flash’s footsteps, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny whipped its way up to first place at this weekend’s box office, but pretty much belly-flopped on arrival. While a $60 million domestic debut sounds nice, the ridiculous $295 million budget of the film means that Indy will have to steal many more artifacts if he hopes to be profitable.

The overseas gross wasn’t much better, topping out at $70 million with a ridiculously lackluster showing in China. I’m not sure what compelled Disney to even release the film in China, but audiences only showed up enough to gross an extra $2.3 million for the famed archeologist’s final outing. That brings the current total to $130 million and leaves the film incredibly unlikely to make a dent in its budget.

Another massive bomb this weekend was the latest Dreamworks animated featured Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken. With a reported budget of $70 million, the film debuted in seventh place with a domestic gross of $5.2 million. Overseas, the film did a tiny bit better, but another $7.6 million is hardly going to be enough to spell good fortune for this film’s future. On the bright side, the film has become Dreamwork’s worst debut ever. Wait, that’s not bright.

In between first and seventh are holdovers from previous weeks. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is still hanging on and webbed up second place with another $12 million. Elemental is still a bomb, but it did grab an extra $11.3 million for Pixar. The Jennifer Lawrence comedy No Hard Feelings took fourth with $7.8 million, pushing it slightly over its budget but well into comfortable territory. The Flash, however, had another huge 65% dropoff and only managed $5.2 million. Warner Bros. is likely not pleased, but then people shouldn’t settle for mediocrity.

Here are the top ten from this past weekend, June 30 – July 2, 2023.

1. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny – $60 million
2. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – $12 million
3. Elemental – $11.3 million
4. No Hard Feelings – $7.8 million
5. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts – $7 million
6. The Flash – $5.2 million
7. Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken – $5.2 million
8. Asteroid City – $3.8 million
9. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 – $1.8 million
10. The Boogeyman – $1.7 million