If there was any hope that Dial of Destiny would redeem the critical failure that was Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, that thought can finally be put to rest.
It was supposed to be a triumphant return and final adventure for fictional archaeologist and professor, Indiana Jones. Harrison Ford returned and Steven Spielberg stepped out. The turmoil early on and years of delays is all too familiar for those who have watched Lucasfilm and its production patterns over the last five years. For was injured while filming on a moving train, production crews were stuck in Morocco during the pandemic, and overall costs ballooned to incredible levels.
While entertainment financial analyst Valliant Renegade has previously talked about how badly Indiana Jones 5 failed at the box office, Forbes’ incredible journalist, Caroline Reid, has managed to confirm prior reporting by VR using just-released UK tax documents that finally put an end to speculation.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny failed to cover its costs at the box office according to financial statements released on Friday which show that Disney spent $134.2m more on making the movie than it is understood to have received in ticket sales.
— Caroline Reid, Forbes
But it gets worse.
Because Forbes is only accounting for the production costs, the number that Indiana Jones lost only grows when one considers marketing costs. Because marketing costs are not calculated by the UK tax documents, we can’t know for sure exactly how much all of it cost when combined. However, it is safe to say that Disney likely paid at least $120M in advertising. When added together, this puts the total at probably at least $234M. That’s not far off from prior projections made by That Park Place last yeaer.
Of course, we mustn’t leave Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny off the list. It was easily a contender for the biggest box office flop in all of history after its horrific stint in movie theaters. $381,579,529 is all it managed to muster, despite an unfathomable budget that had it sitting somewhere between $900 million and $1 billion for a break-even point (are you seeing a trend here). We’ve estimated in the past that Indy 5 managed to cost Disney somewhere between $250 million and $300 million in losses.
— WDW Pro, That Park Place
That puts Indiana Jones in line for having been one of the biggest flops of all time. It’s only too bad that The Marvels came out in the same year and may have also out-flopped Dr. Jones.
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