Not many people thought “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” and “Mission: Impossible —Dead Reckoning Park One” would be major losers at the summer box-office, but here we are and they could both lose a significant amount of money.
According to a report from Variety, ‘Indiana Jones 5’ could lose upwards of $100 million. ‘Mission: Impossible 7’ might break even, but barely. Both had high budgets of around $300 million each, add in marketing costs, and that signifies potential losses for both parties.
You know you have a major problem in your hands when “Sound of Freedom” ($172 million) has outgrossed both ‘Indy 5’ and ‘M:I 7’ at the domestic box-office. No, really, that’s what’s happened. There was a bigger market for Jim Caviezel at the summer box-office than Tom Cruise and Harrison Ford.
“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” has a tepid worldwide gross of only $375 million. The last ‘Indy,’ ‘Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,’ earned more than $790 million globally. The franchise has hit a dead end and not even Phoebe Waller-Bridge will be able to save it.
Meanwhile, “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One,” grossed a little more ($522 million), but, again, that total is well below the previous film, ‘Fallout,’ which earned $791 million globally. However, Variety reports that if it can reach the $600 million worldwide mark then it might break even.
With that being said, there is almost no way that ‘Indy 5’ makes its money back. It was a mistake to premiere it at Cannes, where it garnered bad reviews. The post-Cannes reviews were slightly more favourable, but not enough to save it from box-office infamy.
Moviegoers were so disappointed by 2008’s ‘Kingdom of Crystal Skull’ that they seem to have been completely turned off by the entire franchise. I know, it’s a real shocker, audiences were not willing to pay their hard-earned money to watch an 81-year-old actor lead an action movie. It didn’t help that Ford’s co-star, Waller-Bridge, is not that big of a name to draw more butts into seats.
The Kathleen Kennedy curse continues. It seems as though any film with her name stamped on as a producer turns toxic.