Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny performed more or less (with an emphasis on the “less”) as expected this weekend, falling to second place as the horror sequel Insidious: The Red Door overperformed. That brings the fifth film in the classic franchise to a total of $121 million, which would be fine for most movies. The problem remains the insane production budget for this one, which while unconfirmed, is reported to be as much as $300 million. If you’re going to spend that kind of money on a film, you’d better do a darn good job marketing it. Unfortunately, trailers for Dial of Destiny were vague as to what the plot was even about, and in this day and age, you simply can’t depend on brand recognition–or even star power–alone to sell your blockbuster.

The better news for Disney this weekend is Pixar’s Elemental, which has turned into a leggy wonder. Remember that when this opened to $29 million in mid-June, many in the press were quick to proclaim Pixar’s theatrical releases dead at the box office. Now Elemental has $109 million in the bank, and while that may not make it a “success story” per se, it  shows there is still an appetite for original IP from audiences. As we said last week, organic word of mouth is really helping this one out. Given everyone involved credit for making a good movie that people are enjoying, and internationally, things get even better, with $250 million worldwide to date.

Rounding out the top ten are the two mermaid entries of the summer. Disney’s The Little Mermaid is limping its way ever so slowly to the $300 million mark stateside, but it’s international waters that are hurting this, combined with a (ridiculous)  $250 million price tag that may keep this film from breaking even theatrically. As far as Disney’s recent string of live-action remakes go, Mermaid is a bottom feeder, lacking the show-stopping musical numbers of Beauty and the Beast, the star power and energy of Aladdin, and the impressive visual effects of The Lion King (it’s also needlessly long at two hours and fifteen minutes; parents don’t like dealing with bored kids!). Keep in mind that all of those films crossed the $1 billion mark worldwide with ease. Mermaid, by comparison, has only $542 million in its undersea wallet, so clearly this isn’t resonating with audiences in the same way past efforts have.

Still, it’s better to be Ariel than Ruby Gillman (at least financially). This movie was dead on arrival, and sadly, distributor Universal doesn’t even seem to care. It’s made only $11 million after ten days in theaters. Money was absolutely left on the table here, as there was no reason for the film to bomb this badly.

Final figures are due today.