Indiana Jones cracks whip at box office opening

24 May 2008

Los Angeles: Actor Harrison Ford cracked the box-office whip as his latest Indiana Jones movie grossed a hefty $25 million from its first day in North American cinemas, independent industry analysts reported on Friday.

The takings make it the fourth highest-grossing Thursday debut on record and bodes well for a movie industry looking to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to help shake the movie business out an early summer slump.

However, analysts were unsure whether the highly anticipated adventure movie is on track to overtake last year's Pirates of the Caribbean film as the biggest opening on a US Memorial Day holiday weekend.

Crystal Skull, directed by Steven Spielberg, is the fourth movie in the beloved and lucrative movie franchise that began in 1981 with Raiders of the Lost Ark, and is the first to hit the big screen in 19 years.

The three previous Indiana Jones movies have collectively grossed more than $1.2 billion in ticket sales worldwide.

In the latest film, Ford, 65, reprises his title role as the whip-cracking archaeologist who hates snakes, and is reunited with actress Karen Allen, his co-star from the first adventure. Set during the 1950s Cold War era, the story pits him against an evil KGB agent played by Cate Blanchett in a race to find a skull endowed with mystic powers.

Indiana Jones and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Trailer
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A Day with Indy

By HRM Deborah

Last Thursday, I had the opportunity to see the new Indiana Jones movie and found it very entertaining. The whole movie kept one wondering what was to happen next.

While I am not usually a fan of things extraterrestrial, which I found a bit different for this sort of movie, I think because it was much unexpected. Nevertheless, as old as I am, I had never seen anything from another planet in reality, is why this type of story line was to be found a bit out of the ordinary.

However, I would have to say, it was one of those movies, a person would wish to see more then once, like Indy’s predecessors.

Furthermore, it tended to not just be an adventure movie, but also a type of family reunion with some of the character’s and while some of the story line was a surprise, it had a very happy conclusion with the idea of possibly more visits in the future.