‘Insidious: The Red Door’ takes on ‘Indiana Jones’ at the box office

Sony Pictures’ “Insidious: The Red Door” debuted atop the domestic box office this weekend, scaring up $32.6 million, according to estimates from measurement firm Comscore.

The horror movie exceeded early projections in the $18 million to $23 million range.

Meanwhile, Disney’s “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” slipped into second place — sustaining a 56% drop in ticket sales and earning $26.5 million in its sophomore outing for a North American cumulative of $121.2 million.

Rounding out the top five at the domestic box office was Angel Studios’ “Sound of Freedom,” which added $18.2 million this weekend for a North American total of $40.2 million; Disney’s “Elemental,” which grossed $9.6 million in its fourth frame for a North American total of $109.2 million; and Sony Pictures Animation’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” which added $8 million in its sixth outing for a North American cumulative of $357.6 million.

Directed by and starring franchise veteran Patrick Wilson, “Insidious: The Red Door” sees the Lamberts haunted once again by demons threatening to tear their family apart. The final chapter in the spooky saga also stars Ty Simpkins, Sinclair Daniel, Hiam Abbass, Andrew Astor and Rose Byrne.

The supernatural thriller received a decent 66% fresh rating on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes and a C+ grade from audiences polled by CinemaScore.

“‘The Red Door’ isn’t as good as the first ‘Insidious,’ and may actually fall short of several of the ‘Insidious’ clones,” wrote Noel Murray in his review for The Times. “But it’s no impersonal bit of brand extension. There’s a strong idea here about how important it is for an artist — any fully alive human being, really — to confront past traumas instead of blocking them out.”

Also new to theaters this weekend was Lionsgate’s “Joy Ride,” which debuted in sixth place with $5.8 million at the domestic box office. The destination comedy fell short of early projections in the $7 million to $9 million range.

Helmed by Adele Lim, “Joy Ride” stars Stephanie Hsu, Sherry Cola, Sabrina Wu and Ashley Park as a group of friends on a business trip to Asia gone awry. The raunchy, feel-good flick scored an excellent 92% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a B- grade from audiences polled by CinemaScore.

“While ‘Joy Ride’ has its borderline-mechanical moments ... it moves too swiftly and good-humoredly, for the most part, to fall into this trap for long,” writes Times film critic Justin Chang.

“It also has actors who, even when cleaving to their characters’ broadest outlines or going for obvious, outlandish laughs, simply possess too much warmth and emotional vibrancy to ever seem one-note.”

Opening Wednesday in wide release is Paramount Pictures’ “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One.”