Is Excitement about Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Already Dying Down?

Recently looking at the press coverage of Indiana Jones 5 the newer pieces seemed to consist of, a little on-set gossip apart, the kind of clickbaity material that could be produced at any time, offering nothing new as they did. ("How to Watch the Indiana Jones Movies in Order." "The Indiana Jones Movies Rated From Best to Worst." Etc.)

This is because the film has already had its premiere, and the critics have had their say--a month and a half before the global release of the movie. And those reviews have not been flattering. (This "tomato," according to the folks at RT, is rotten.) In the process they have shared so many spoilers that anyone who wants to can with just a little web-surfing find out pretty much every last little detail of the film down to the "big twist," and the tease of the final shot before the screen goes black and the credits roll. Thus there is no more place for the kind of speculation the press so loves to use as a substitute for actual knowledge and information.

So until the movie hits theaters and non-critics start seeing it and reacting the claqueurs have little to work with.

The bad reviews, the end of the speculation, the flatness of what we are getting instead, so far in advance of the movie's release, seem very, very unlikely to be helpful to the movie's gross--Disney-Lucasfilm gambled on a triumphant reception on the Riviera, and lost that gamble, badly. In the process it would seem to have shot its bolt publicity-wise, leaving it without a basis for recovering from its self-inflicted blow, such that the outlook, already terrible (a Solo-like collapse is no longer an outside possibility but safely inside the Boxoffice Pro's range of expectation) could get worse rather than better over the next month--as it has for so many other Disney releases this summer.