The fifth Indiana Jones installment is gearing up to be a catastrophe of epic proportions for Disney and its seasoned CEO, Bob Iger.

Dial of Destiny, which was released on June 30, grossed a disappointing $60 million in its first weekend in domestic theaters, and interest has since waned significantly, as Fortune reported.

One week later, despite being one of the most expensive films ever produced, it lost the top position at the box office and has since fallen to a distant fourth place.

After the critical failure of its antecedent, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the new installment could no longer rely on the goodwill generated by the first three films. The first theatrical release from Lucasfilm since 2019 now appears doomed due to poor reviews and awful word of mouth.

Following the Money

Its global gross of $302 million has approximately matched the reported costs of its production budget, which required costly reshoots after test screenings revealed audiences were unsatisfied with the original ending.

Disney must still pay the theaters their share of the profits after marketing and promotion are expected to have added an additional $100 million or so to the cost.

“It looks certain to fall short of the global total for 2008’s Crystal Skull: $786.6 million,” wrote Box Office Pro on Sunday.

According to The Hollywood Handle, the situation is significantly worse than even previous estiamtes. Dial Of Destiny is not expected to gross more than $400 million worldwide, which is half of what the fourth installment earned 15 years ago when a dollar went much further.

This appears to be a safe wager in light of the film's current competition, which includes the espionage thriller Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning, Greta Gerwig's Barbie, and Christopher Nolan's biopic Oppenheimer. In actuality, the Indy sequel required approximately $800 million to break even.

Disney At Large

If the dire predictions come true, the Lucasfilm production could rival John Carter as the "Mouse House's" worst-ever live-action commercial failure, and the future of studio head Kathleen Kennedy, a former Fortune Most Powerful Woman, would be called into doubt.

Nonetheless, it might have repercussions for Disney as well. Excluding the decrease caused by the 2020 pandemic, the share price has been trading at nine-year lows, and rumors persist that Iger may be forced to sell the firm to Apple.

Iger, whose bouncing CEO term was just renewed by another two years last week, can ill afford any box office disappointments. In order to complete the sale of Comcast's minority investment in Hulu next year, he will need billions of dollars in cash.

The problem is that, so far at least, Disney's roster for this year has been subpar at best, with perhaps the exception of Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 3.

Marvel's Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Disney's live-action adaptation of its animation classic The Little Mermaid, Pixar's Elemental, and now Warner Bros.' Dial of Destiny have all bombed at the box office.