Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny grossed $24 million at the Friday box office for a planned $60 million weekend debut. That would put the opening at the lower end of forecasts.
Friday’s haul includes $7.2 million worth of previews.
The long-delayed final and fifth installment in Disney and Lucasfilm’s adventure action series will easily top the domestic box office over the July 4th long weekend. The filmmakers are still hoping for a debut closer to the $65 million mark, but a B+ CinemaScore and tepid reviews could hamper word of mouth. A ray of hope is the 88 percent positive viewer rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Harrison Ford returns as a daring archaeologist in the Indiana Jones film series. The 80-year-old actor stars alongside Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas, John Rhys-Davies, Toby Jones, Boyd Holbrook, Ethann Isidore and Mads Mikkelsen in the James Mangold-directed film. (Steven Spielberg directed each of the previous four Indy films.)
The film is a sequel to 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which made its three-day debut 15 years ago and grossed $100 million.
Keeping the film series’ ongoing Nazi theme alive, Dial of Destiny’s plot revolves around an ancient device being hunted by Jones and a villain played by Mikkelsen.
Indiana Jones 5 is produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Simon Emanuel, with Spielberg and George Lucas serving as executive producers. John Williams, who has written the music for every Indiana Jones film since the original 1981 Raiders of the Lost Ark, once again composed the film’s score.
Also opening the weekend before July 4th is “Teenage Kraken,” by DreamWorks Animation and Univeral’s Ruby Gillman, which grossed $2.4 million on Friday, including $725,000 in Thursday’s previews. The family film is out DOA with a projected weekend run of $6 million and a sixth place finish.
July 1, 7:45 a.m: Updated with Friday gross figures and revised weekend estimates.