Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny debuted to a “Rotten” score on Rotten Tomatoes, but it’s since gone way up and now has a “Fresh” score, but how does that compare to the rest of the movies in the Indiana Jones franchise? Indiana Jones is one of the most famous characters in Hollywood history and the Indiana Jones movies have always been well-reviewed, but with Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny releasing over 40 years after Raiders of the Lost Ark, how does its Rotten Tomatoes score rank compared to other Indiana Jones movies?
Disney and Lucasfilm chose to premiere Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny at Cannes Film Festival in France, likely in an attempt to generate early buzz a month and a half before the movie was released in theaters. Unfortunately, the selection of critics that saw it first submitted mixed reviews to Rotten Tomatoes, resulting in a Rotten 52 percent score. Now that a larger pool of critics have reviewed it, Dial of Destiny‘s Rotten Tomatoes score significantly increased and its Rotten Tomatoes audience reviews are also generally favorable. Here’s how those scores compare to all the other Indiana Jones movies.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Has the Lowest Indiana Jones Rotten Tomatoes Score
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny‘s Rotten Tomatoes score is 68 percent Fresh, which is 16 points higher than its Rotten debut score, but it’s still the lowest Rotten Tomatoes score in the Indiana Jones franchise, scoring nine points lower than the previous lowest-scoring movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull at 77 percent. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny‘s Rotten Tomatoes isn’t only the lowest in the franchise, but the average Indiana Jones Rotten Tomatoes score is 83 percent, meaning Dial of Destiny is also 15 points lower than the franchise’s Rotten Tomatoes average.
Despite Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny‘s score from all Rotten Tomatoes critics rising to a Fresh 68 percent, Rotten Tomatoes’ specially selected “Top Critics” were far more negative, giving the franchise its only Rotten score from critics at 58 percent, 10 points lower than its Rotten Tomatoes score from all critics. It’s not only the lowest Top Critic score for all the Indiana Jones movies, but also 15 points lower than the 73 percent average Rotten Tomatoes Top Critic score for the first four movies in the Indiana Jones franchise. The next lowest Top Critic score is Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, at 61 percent.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Has the 4th Lowest Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is may be struggling with Rotten Tomatoes critics, but its Rotten Tomatoes audience reviews are much more positive. With an unverified audience score (the only version of the audience score available for all five Indiana Jones movies) of 80 percent, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny ranks fourth in the Indiana Jones franchise. Its score is 27 points higher than the lowest-rated movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull at 53 percent. It’s also just one point shy of the pre-Dial of Destiny Indiana Jones Rotten Tomatoes audience score average of 81 percent.
Most big blockbusters actually see their Rotten Tomatoes scores go down after release, particularly their audience scores, and while Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny‘s Rotten Tomatoes critic score defied that trend, the same circumstances aren’t likely to apply to its audience score; however, while its audience score should be expected to go down a few points, it’s sure to stay in Fresh territory and won’t fall nearly as low as Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull‘s Rotten Tomatoes audience score, so its fourth place rank is likely where it’ll stay compared to the other Indiana Jones movies.
How Every Indiana Jones Movie Ranks in Rotten Tomatoes
It may not be a surprise that Raiders of the Lost Ark is the highest-rated Indiana Jones movie on Rotten Tomatoes with a score of 93 percent. After that, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is second with an 84 percent score, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is tied for third with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull at 77 percent (but Temple of Doom‘s 7.4 out of 10 review score average beats out Kingdom of the Crystal Skull‘s 6.9), and then obviously Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny has the fifth-ranked (and lowest) Rotten Tomatoes score of all the Indiana Jones movies at 68 percent.
The Indiana Jones movies rank slightly differently according to their Rotten Tomatoes audience scores, but the first three rank in the same order. Raiders of the Lost Ark has the best Indiana Jones Rotten Tomatoes audience score at 96 percent, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is second at 94 percent, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom ranks third with 82 percent, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is fourth with 80 percent, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is the fifth-ranked and lowest Indiana Jones Rotten Tomatoes audience score at 53 percent.
Popular blockbuster movies are often scored more positively by audiences on Rotten Tomatoes than they are by critics, and the same is true of the Indiana Jones movies, although the average scores are incredibly similar. Altogether, the five Indiana Jones movies have an average Rotten Tomatoes critic score of 80 percent, while the average audience score is only one point higher at 81 percent. The only movie in the franchise critics liked more than audiences is Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which earned 77 percent from critics and a 24-point lower 53 percent Rotten Tomatoes score from audiences.
Obviously, reviews and movie rankings are all subjective, so Rotten Tomatoes comparisons don’t present a definitive comparison of the quality of any of the Indiana Jones movies, although it does provide interesting insight to the way critics and audiences evaluate each of the movies over time for a franchise that now spans over four decades. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is expected to be the final movie in the Indiana Jones franchise (at least the last one featuring the titular character), and while it may have earned one of the franchise’s lowest scores, it maintains a perfect Fresh streak for all five movies.
