The upcoming Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny film is reportedly pacing far behind rival films Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
A report from Puck’s Matthew Belloni claims that Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny significantly underperformed compared to Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 after the three films released trailers during Brazil Comic Con back at the beginning of December.
According to studio source Belloni reports that Transformers: Rise of the Beasts racked up over 506 million views in two weeks across YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 drew in 187 million views while Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny only brought in 79 million views.
Taking a peek at the YouTube numbers, as of today, the Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny trailer only has 10 million views on the Lucasfilm YouTube channel.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 clocks in with 25.5 million views on the Marvel Entertainment YouTube channel.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts has 26.3 million views on the official Paramount Pictures YouTube channel.
While Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 isn’t trailing Transformers: Rise of the Beasts as much as Belloni reported after two weeks, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is still significantly off the pace compared to Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
In fact, both films have more than doubled up on trailer views compared to Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is not only trailing these films when it comes to trailer views as noted by both Belloni’s inside source as well as spot-checking YouTube, but Belloni also claims the film is already at a disadvantage because Stephen Spielberg is not directing the film and Harrison Ford is 80 years old and is supposedly the leading man in a film franchise known for its action adventure heroics.
The film’s promotion has also been plagued by director James Mangold’s antagonistic behavior to concerned fans about what he and Lucasfilm have planned for the film.
Lucasfilm has a track record of destroying their male-led franchises, one needs only look at the the desecration of Han Solo in The Force Awakens that turned his character into a deadbeat dad, who then gets murdered by his own son.
This anti-male theme would be doubled down on in Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi that shows Luke Skywalker as a man who has abandoned everything he believed in and even tosses his lightsaber away like a piece of garbage.
This theme is not isolated to the sequel trilogies, The Mandalorian turns what was pitched as a ruthless bounty hunter living in the outer reaches of the galaxy into a glorified baby sitter for a child-like Yoda character that is apparently not a child at all. The Book of Boba Fett also turned the famed bounty hunter into an incompetent town manager.
Given this track record, fans have a healthy skepticism of what Lucasfilm and Mangold will do to the franchise and have especially had their hackles up following the casting of self-proclaimed feminist Phoebe Waller-Bridge.
In response to one fan concern, Mangold decided to attack him and then proceeded to lie about his attacks on the fan.
RELATED: Rumor: Phoebe Waller-Bridge To Replace Indiana Jones As Female Archaeology Professor
Matthew Kadish shared his concerns writing on Twitter, “To anyone thinking Indiana Jones 5 might be good, just let me point out… 1. Steven Spielberg is not directing. 2. Kathleen Kennedy is producing. 3. Harrison Ford is 78 years old. 4. It’s written by Jonathan Kasdan, who wrote SOLO.”
Mangold responded writing, “Thanks, Matt! 1) Keep making the world a better place crapping on things in the 1st week of production from your basement. 2) Never seen a script by Jon. Nothing against him. Just reality. Butterworths & I started from a blank page. 3) 1-3 r hugely talented & all at my side.”
RELATED: Indiana Jones 5 Director James Mangold Lies About His Temper Tantrum And Attacking Fans
Not only did Mangold decide to degrade Kadish over his legitimate concerns, but he confirmed those concerns were legitimate by claiming three of Kadish’s four concerns were “hugely talented & all at my side.”
Following this interaction, Mangold would then lie about a month later. When a Twitter user referenced his degrading comment regarding Kadish living in a basement, Mangold denied he ever used such language.
He wrote, “Um. I never said ‘people who criticize me live in basements’. People criticize me all the time and don’t get such comments. I think you know what caused me to reply to the specific click baiters the way I did. And I have said I am sorry if, in my anger, I spoke too broadly.”
Responding to a report on Mangold’s comments, Kadish wrote, “First thing Mangold said to me was that I was a basement dweller.”
Clearly, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny does not appear to be connecting to people via trailer views and on top of that it has an antagonistic director who not only confirmed fan fears about Lucasfilm’s production are legitimate, but he’s openly degrading them for expressing such concerns.
What do you make of this new report regarding Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’s poor trailer views compared to Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3?