James Mangold Discusses ‘Dial of Destiny’s’ Disappointing Box Office Results
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny was undeniably one of the biggest disappointments of the 2023 box office.
Even though the film managed to gross $175 million at the box office, Dial of Destiny barely managed to surpass its astronomical budget of $300 million with its total worldwide gross of $384 million.
Image: Disney
The film was the first Indiana Jones installment to fail at the box office, with even the much-maligned Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull managing to bring back $790.7 million on a $185 million budget.
James Mangold Stands By the Film
For the first time since the dust has settled, Dial of Destiny director James Mangold is surveying the wreckage and is ultimately at peace. When asked if he took the film’s box office personally or if it was something that was out of his hands, Mangold’s response was clear.
“Well, it’s definitely the second,” Mangold told io9. “There’s nothing I can do about how much a movie is going to make worldwide in a window of four weeks… other than [interviews] like this … Our grosses were very much in keeping with other films of similar ilk this last summer and none of them featured a hero who was both Harrison’s age and also was a franchise that had been dormant for 20 years.”
Image: Disney
Mangold’s analysis is correct. Dial of Destiny may not have lived up to the franchise’s previous installments, but it did hold serve with other older properties like Mission Impossible and The Fast and the Furious.
A Product Of Its Time
In Mangold’s eyes, the narrative surrounding the film’s box office results was tainted by Dial of Destiny’s large budget. That budget, Mangold says, was a product of the time.
Image: Disney
“A lot of what expectations are based on is also what movies cost,” he began.
Image: Disney
“And I think it’s not just true of our film, but others. We made these films during a time of covid. In the case of Indy, they had already been prepping a different movie and had spent a lot of money before we even started. And so it’s just hard to make large-scale movies when world travel was decreased and you could be shut down at any moment by one person in your crew testing positive. And I thought it was heroic of all the studios to keep pushing on and making these pictures despite that, even though they were all costing 20 or 30% more than they would have if they had been made at another time.”
“At Some Point, Everything Became the Wall Street Journal”
In the end, Mangold is proud of his work, even if he grew frustrated with the story surrounding the film’s release. The director notes that film reporting was once “about what people liked and didn’t like and what inspired them.” However, he admitted, “At some point, everything became the Wall Street Journal.
Image: Disney
History is riddled with films that failed at the box office but were embraced by an audience later. Perhaps Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny will fit this mold, and the film will one day be seen as a proper sendoff for its fedoraed hero.
Thanks for visiting MickeyBlog.com! Want to go to Disney? For a FREE quote on your next Disney vacation, please fill out the form below and one of the agents from MickeyTravels, a Diamond level Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, will be in touch soon! Also, thanks for reading!
