Even though we’re barely past the halfway point of the year, 2023 is in danger of going down in the history books as one of the worst years in recent history at the box office for big budget blockbusters, with Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny the latest to drastically fall short of expectations.
Disney and DC have largely been leading the charge so far, with the likes of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, Elemental, The Flash, and The Little Mermaid all under-performing, leading to widespread concerns about Haunted Mansion and Blue Beetle, because the freshest evidence is not on either studio’s side.
With Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Barbie, and Oppenheimer just around the corner, Dial of Destiny has a long way to go in order to turn a profit given its lackluster start and massive production costs of $295 million. Unfortunately, it’s being dethroned after one week by a horror sequel that cost infinitely less.
Dial of Destiny is estimated to drop around 58 percent in its second frame, which would be a record high for the long-running franchise, while $16 million terror Insidious: The Red Door is set to comfortably claim the top spot with an debut of around $31 million despite being greeted tepidly by critics.
It’s getting far too easy to trash Disney’s woeful year at the multiplex, but the facts are right there that the Mouse House is in the midst of a downturn that’s somewhere between the drastic and alarming, especially when not even Indiana Jones can spend more than seven days at the summit before being dislodged by the fifth installment in a property that cost $279 million less to make.