Jones movie expected to be hit a box office
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Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Indiana Jones searches for "The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" in his new movie that opens Thursday, but Hollywood is searching for numbers — big box office numbers.
Box-office forecasters are predicting a huge opening for Indiana Jones' fourth movie this weekend, reversing a short streak of disappointments set by "Speed Racer," which has made a lowly $30 million, and "The Chronicles of Narnia," sequel, which opened to a lower-than-expected $55 million.
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Steve Mason, of the Web site Fantasy Moguls expects the film will make $173 million over the long Memorial Day weekend, just edging out "Star Wars: Episode III's" $172.8 million five-day opening.
That's a far cry from the numbers the movies used to hit. According to the box office data at Box Office Mojo, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" opened to $8.3 million in 1981, but that was before the ultra-wide releases of today. Its follow-up, "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," made $25.3 million on its opening weekend in 1984, while "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" debuted with $29.3 million in 1989.
Prognosticators guess that "Crystal Skull" will finish with between $300 and $400 million. "Raiders of the Lost Ark" made $242 million, "Temple of Doom" made $179 million and "Last Crusade" made $197.1 million.
Adjusted for inflation, however, "Raiders" ends up with $606 million, making it the number 18 movie of all time. "Doom's" take would be $368 million today, and "Last Crusade's" would be $339 million - just above "Spider-Man 3."
Of course, the question most moviegoers are wrestling with is, will the movie be any good? The numbers say, yes. On Rotten Tomatoes, a site that gathers reviews, it has a 78 percent positive score, and the Internet Movie Database's "user rating" is a sky-high 9 out of 10.
Looks like Indiana Jones may have a rich summer - in more ways than one.
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2836 or erobinette@coxohio.com.
