It is thought that the Antikythera mechanism, rebranded the “dial of destiny” in the latest Indiana Jones movie, was a device invented by the ancient Greeks to predict eclipses and monitor the movement of the sun. Whether its prescience can be applied to box office takings isn’t known: some estimates date the contraption to as early as 200BC, when there was a dismaying lack of interest in domestic grosses and opening weekends. But, if it could, it might have revealed that Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny was heading for a full-on Temple of Doom scenario. If you want to imagine what the studio executives looked like when they received word of the dismal grosses for their $300m (£235m) movie, cast your mind back to the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark: eyes popping, faces melting, that sort of thing.
