Disney "Panics" Over New 'Indiana Jones' Film as Worst Nightmare Unfolds

Things are not looking promising for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023).

The beloved Lucasfilm franchise is just a matter of days away from releasing its final installment. The franchise currently boasts four movies, which include Raiders of the Lost Ark(1981), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008).

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which was released more than 15 years ago, received terrible ratings from critics and audiences alike. The movie, which starred Harrison Ford reprising his role as Dr. Henry Jones Jr. for the first time in nearly 20 years alongside Shia LaBeouf (Mutt Williams) was okay at the box office but was horribly rated. Though the film brought in $790.7 million at the box office, it received just a 53% approval rating from audiences and a 77% rating from critics, which is actually surprisingly high considering the reviews that were released following the film’s release.

Now, Disney and Lucasfilm have joined forces to produce Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, which is set to be released on June 30, 2023. The film debuted at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2023, and has been quite a controversial topic since well before then.

Disney was originally planning a spinoff series for Indiana Jones that could have starred the likes of Phoebe Waller-Bridge taking over the lead role in the place of Harrison Ford. However, after much backlash, the series was reportedly canceled. If that weren’t enough, the new film has faced controversy for scenes that have been released, including a couple of moments that have opponents believing the movie will be part of Disney’s reported “woke agenda.”

Still, the film– which will be Harrison Ford’s swansong in the role with Waller-Bridge and Mads Mikkelsen (Jurgen Voller) playing his key supporting roles– is barrelling into its debut weekend, where it’s expected to earn big.

However, Disney’s biggest nightmare might be upon them. Reviews continue to come in for the movie and early screeners for the film several months ago reportedly had the company “in a panic” after hearing feedback. Now, it seems that the fears that the film might be a “bust” could be walking straight into reality. With Rotten Tomatoes showing a 77% rating from critics for the Shia LaBeouf Indiana Jones film, you might be surprised to know that critics hate this upcoming movie even more. With 93 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes shows an abysmal 58% approval rating, which is noticeably low.

A review from Express shared that the film “should’ve stayed buried.” Though the review shared that James Mangold did an excellent job stepping in for Steven Spielberg as the director of the film, the publication said that they did not think this is how Harrison Ford’s character should ride off into the sunset.

“If we never see Ford as Indy again, it’ll be a crying shame, because frankly his story is not finished just yet,” they said.

Several other reviews from critics have noted many of the same feelings toward the ending of the film.

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