
The final “FINAL” installment in the 43 year old Indiana Jones franchise, “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” is making an exit worthy of a series that going on three generations have been showing up for.
No, the movie’s not the breathtaking treat that the best of the five films were, but sentimental value counts for something, and our affection for Harrison Ford, John Rhys-Davies and Karen Allen and one last fight against those damned Nazis is worth over $60 million, maybe $60 million in North America this weekend, $80 million or so by the time July the 4th’s last fireworks have fizzled, according to Deadline.com.
No, reviews haven’t been dazzling. It’s a winded franchise with an old — de-aged or not — leading man, VERY old for an action hero. But even the reviewing shrugs and outright pans let a little sentiment poke through. Take the kids and the grandkids and see it, at a drive-in if there’s one near you, if you’re nostalgic.
As it reportedly cost $250 million to make and another $50 to market, it won’t be breaking even in the US unless it holds screens into August.
This extended holiday weekend’s other big wide release, the kids’ cartoon “Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken” is so instantly forgettable I had to look up the danged title to see if it was “teen” or “teenage.”
Dreamworks is running on fumes and this “Shrek-ish” Mermaids vs. Kraken comedy, so thin on laughs and so dimly lit in many scenes that it might encourage adults to nap while the kids ponder its mystery, should clear $6million, but not by much, per Deadline.
That is nothing less than disastrous. It’s a rare summer when both Pixar and Dreamworks deliver movies nobody is hyped to see.
“Spider-Man: Across the SpiderVerse” continues to rake in the cash, though, a $12-14 million three day weekend should give it second place at the box office in its fifth week of release.
That bests “Elemental” ($10 million+), and “No Hard Feelings” ($7-8). If your teen son would rather see “Spider-Verse” again than catch Jennifer Lawrence giving her all to get a teenager ready for college, that’s peer pressure. And maybe Sonny needs some different peers. Just saying.
Warners must be in “move on” mode as the latest crapulent “Transformers” dog rounds out the top five, pushing “The Flash” into early box office oblivion just a couple of weeks into its release. It drops to #8. Ouch.
Here’s the updated Sunday PM projection from BoxOfficePro.


