It is exceedingly rare that a sequel outpaces the original film. In the eyes of many, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom does just that. Temple of Doom once again follows Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones, who goes to India with Short Round and a woman named Willie Scott to battle Mola Ram and the evil Thuggee and return a sacred stone and children to a desperate group of villagers. The Thuggee, by the way, have enslaved the children and use them to engage in black magic and ritual human sacrifice - all in honor of a goddess named Kali.
Much like Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom was a major success at the Academy Awards and at the box office. At the 1985 Academy Awards, the movie won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. John Williams was also nominated for an Oscar for his original score.
In that vein, the movie was also highly successful at the box office. It was made for $28 million and made back $333.1 at the box office, showing that it was incredibly profitable (films usually need to make 2x its budget to simply break even).
