Who's Watching Indiana Jones 5? (Hint: Old People)

While the press is overwhelmingly focused on the disappointing box office numbers the Boxoffice Pro analysis regarding Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny's debut offers an interesting tidbit about the makeup of the dismayingly small portion of the moviegoing audience that did show up. As their report indicates, just "a quarter of the film’s opening weekend audience was under the age of 25," while "moviegoers above the age of 54" comprise "the title's largest age group with 21 percent of ticket sales."

Presenting my initial speculation about the likely misfire that is this film back in April I wrote that

I think Indy 5 will be the movie that reduces Indiana Jones from the tiny and ultra-exclusive club of "absolute, inarguable, classic, totally failure-proof franchise" to "just another movie franchise" (like Star Wars had become in 2017-2019) and maybe even "franchise old people see mainly out of nostalgia" (like the James Bond films have seemed to be, especially after the Waller-Bridge co-scripted No Time to Die[)].

It thus seems that, just as I had speculated, Indiana Jones 5, like No Time to Die, really is confirming the film series' hanging-on-out-of-nostalgia status--a fact that did not bode well for the Bond film, and also does not bode well for this film, which seems that much less likely to be saved by good legs at the box office as a result.