Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny's box office might be one of the highest opening weekends for the Indiana Jones franchise, but it's a totally different story when adjusting for inflation. More than 40 years after his first appearance as Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Harrison Ford is reprising the role for one last outing in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, and while the franchise has always been a reliable box office performer, Dial of Destiny is off to a rough start, especially considering its nearly $300 million production budget.

While it initially debuted to mixed reviews and a "Rotten" score on Rotten Tomatoes after its Cannes Film Festival premiere, it's since climbed to a "Fresh" 68 percent as more reviews as more reviews have been submitted. Despite the improved review score, its box office opening is especially soft, especially compared to the historical performance of every other Indiana Jones movie after adjusting for inflation.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny's Opening Weekend Box Office is the 2nd Best Indiana Jones Movie

With a domestic opening weekend box office haul of $60 million, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny has the second-best opening weekend box office of any Indiana Jones movie in a head-to-head comparison. The biggest opening weekend of all time for an Indiana Jones movie is Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which debuted to $100.1 million in 2008, followed by Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny's 60 million in second place, with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in third place with a $29.4 million opening weekend, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in fourth place with a $25.3 million opening weekend, and Raiders of the Lost Ark in fifth place with an 8.3 million opening weekend.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny's Box Office is One of the Worst Indiana Jones Opening Weekend Box Office Adjusted For Inflation

The value of the American Dollar has seen fairly significant changes since the 1980s due to inflation when adjusted to 2023 dollars for comparison to Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Adjusted for inflation Raiders of the Lost Ark's 1981 box office is the equivalent to $29 million in 2023, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom's 1984 box office opening adjusts to $75.6 million, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade's 1989 opening weekend adjusts to $73.7 million, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull's 2008 opening adjusts to $144.3 million in 2023 dollars, making Dial of Destiny's opening weekend on one of the franchise's worst.

While Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny only beats Raiders of the Lost Ark's opening weekend, it's still not a fair comparison. The average box office multiplier (the quotient of total domestic box office and opening weekend) for the top movie each year in the 1980s is over 20 and Raiders of the Lost Ark's multiplier is over 25 while the average multiplier for the top 10 movies in 2022 is 2.7. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny likely won't be able to keep up and won't match Raiders of the Lost Ark's inflation adjusted domestic total, and will likely be the lowest-grossing Indiana Jones movie at the domestic box office.