There’s a lot riding on Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny for a number of reasons, but the most important of all is obviously the fact that it needs to make huge bank at the box office when the fifth and final installment comes to theaters this summer.
Not only does it need to atone for the sins of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in the eyes of its fiercest critics, but it has to send Harrison Ford’s iconic adventurer out with a bang after the actor confirmed without a shadow of a doubt that this is going to be his final time cracking the whip.
In addition, director James Mangold will be under intense scrutiny after stepping in to replace the legendary Steven Spielberg behind the camera, while it also marks the first Indiana Jones movie that doesn’t feature either a writing or story credit for George Lucas, so the pressure is well and truly on.
Despite splitting opinion right down the middle, Crystal Skull still managed to earn a colossal $790 million from theaters. However, Dial of Destiny will surely need to be aiming for a billion, after it was revealed that it cost over $100 million more than its polarizing predecessor.
Disney’s earnings call confirmed that the impending epic racked up a tab of $294.7 million, substantially higher than the $185 million production costs of Crystal Skull. De-aging the leading man must have cost a pretty penny, then, but it remains to be seen if Dial of Destiny can plunge itself deep enough in the black to justify the exorbitant expenses.