The Indy 151
Bull’s-eye.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull lived up to huge expectations, delivering $151.1 million in its first five days, per studio estimates today from Exhibitor Relations Co.
The movie accounted for nearly 60 percent of all ticket sales over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, grossing $101 million from Friday to Sunday, and $126.1 million from Friday to Monday.
After debuting with $25 million on Thursday, the movie, as expected, picked up speed over the weekend. Its biggest day was Saturday, when it grossed $37 million.
While the movie didn’t set any showy records and didn’t make it to the most outsized of projections that pegged a $175 million debut, it did make more money in its first 120 hours than all but four movies in Hollywood history.
In the annals of biggest three-day opening weekends, it ranks 10th, just ahead of this summer’s Iron Man, per Box Office Mojo. In the annals of four-day Memorial Day weekend debuts, it ranks second.
Worldwide, it simply scooped up a whole lot of money$313 million all together, combining domestic and foreign receipts, per Exhibitor Relations.
The $185 million Steven Spielberg-George Lucas movie, starring Harrison Ford, is the first new Indiana Jones since 1989’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull should shortly overtake both Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom ($179.9 million) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade ($197.2 million).
At the end of the adventuring day, however, the original Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark, should continue to stand as the giant of the series.
While Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will probably top that 1981 movie’s $245 million take, it probably won’t come close to topping its adjusted-for-inflation take.
In 2008 dollars, according to Box Office Mojo, Raiders grossed a titanic $606.4 million. (Temple of Doom’s take adjusts up to $368.3 million; Last Crusade’s to $340 million.)
If Indy doesn’t end up being as big as he used to be, then he’ll have to live with the next best thing: being big enough.
Other tidbits:
- Among its lesser records, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is now the No. 1 movie of the year to star a senior citizen (age 65 or older), topping The Bucket List, a 2007 release which made most of its $93.3 million after Jan. 1.
- This weekend’s box office was actually down from last year’s. For one thing, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was a bit smaller than Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End ($114.7 million, Friday-Sunday). Secondly, second-place finisher The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian ($23 million) was far smaller than its 2007 counterpart, Shrek the Third ($53 million).
- And for a third thing, two Top 10 movies failed to clear $1 million from Friday to Sunday.
- With $96.7 million in the bank as of today, Prince Caspian will easily break $100 million, but it won’t easily, if ever, top The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’s $291.7 million.
- Caspian business was down 58 percent from its disappointing opening weekend.
- Far from winded after four weekends, Iron Man (third place, $20.1 million, Friday-Sunday; $25.7 million, Friday-Monday; $257.8 million overall) is living up to its title.
- The comedies Baby Mama (seventh place, $3.3 million, Friday-Sunday; $4.2 million, Friday-Monday; $53 million overall) and Forgetting Sarah Marshall (eighth place, $1.7 million, Friday-Sunday; $2.2 million, Friday-Monday; $58.7 million overall) have put together nice little runs.
- What Happens in Vegas (fourth place, $9 million, Friday-Sunday; $11.2 million, Friday-Monday; $56.4 million overall) has, too, but it has too much star power to truly qualify as nice ’n’ little.
- The Forbidden Kingdom ($375,000, Friday-Sunday; $489,000, Friday-Monday; $51.2 million overall) fell out of the Top 10, but comes up as Jackie Chan’s biggest hit outside of the Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon franchises. For Jet Li, the movie will probably fall just short of topping Hero and Romeo Must Die as his biggest hit outside of Lethal Weapon IV.
- In limited release, the John Cusack satire War, Inc. came up big with $35,336 from Friday to Sunday ($50,714, Friday-Monday) at two theaters.
Here’s a recap of the top-grossing weekend films based on Friday-Sunday estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations:
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, $101 million
- The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, $23 million
- Iron Man, $20.1 million
- What Happens in Vegas, $9 million
- Speed Racer, $4 million
- Made of Honor, $3.4 million
- Baby Mama, $3.3 million
- Forgetting Sarah Marshall, $1.7 million
- Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, $940,000
- The Visitor, $723,000
Trivia: Dan Aykroyd and the Temple of Doom
When I was re-watching the Indiana Jones trilogy in preparation of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, I discovered something I never noticed before - Dan Aykroyd.
That’s right, the SNL star turned Ghostbuster has a very small cameo in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Unlike Raiders and Last Crusade, I had only seen the film once or twice since I was a kid, which might explain how I passed him by. The 18-second cameo is easy to miss and comes just after the conclusion of the car chase with Lao Che’s men in the film’s opening sequence. Aykroyd plays a character named “Weber”, who sports a mustache and an even worse fake British accent. He explains to Indy that he’s arranged for last minute transportation just before Jones, Short Round and Willie board the plane. Turns out that Aykroyd was friends with Spielberg, going back to working on 1941.
Even harder to spot is the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameos of George Lucas, Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy, and Steven Spielberg as a group of missionaries in the background of the same airport scene.
The newspaper clipping below shows the group in costume wearing long black cassocks and tropical helmets.
New Indiana Jones Trilogy DVDs
Paramount Home Entertainment have announced they will be releasing new Special Edition DVDs for the Indiana Jones Trilogy on May 13th, to coincide with Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’s release. Most of you, like me, probably already own the Indiana Jones box set which was released a few years back. The new set features a bunch of new extra features, none of which I’m hugely excited about. Still missing are commentary tracks from Lucas/Spielberg (can we expect that be in the fourth release on the trilogy on Blu-ray or is it just never going to happen?) or the incredibly fun Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation (a seven year shot for shot remake recreated by a group of kids). Here are the details on the rerelease:
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark Special Edition DVD is presented in widescreen enhanced for 16:9 TVs with Dolby Digital English 5.1 Surround, French 2.0 Surround and Spanish 2.0 Surround and English, French and Spanish subtitles. The disc includes the following special features:
– Raiders of the Lost Ark: An Introduction by Steven Spielberg & George Lucas
– Indiana Jones: An Appreciation–The cast and crew of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull pay tribute to the original trilogy.
– The Melting Face–A recreation of the amazing physical effect of the villain’s melting face in Raiders of the Lost Ark, including Steven Spielberg and George Lucas commenting on the evolution of visual effects and CGI.
– Storyboard Sequence–The Well of Souls
– Galleries
– Illustrations & Props
– Production Photographs & Portraits
– Effects/ILM
– Marketing
– Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures Game Demo and Trailer
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Special Edition DVD is presented in widescreen enhanced for 16:9 TVs with Dolby Digital English 5.1 Surround, French 2.0 Surround and Spanish 2.0 Surround and English, French and Spanish subtitles. The disc includes the following special features:
– Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom: An Introduction by Steven Spielberg & George Lucas
– Creepy Crawlies–Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Frank Marshall reminisce about snakes, bugs and rats.
– Locations–Travel across the world to discover where the films take place and where they were shot.
– Storyboard Sequence–The Mine Cart Chase
– Galleries
– Illustrations & Props
– Production Photographs & Portraits
– Effects/ILM
– Marketing
– Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures Game Demo and Trailer
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Special Edition DVD is presented in widescreen enhanced for 16:9 TVs with Dolby Digital English 5.1 Surround, French 2.0 Surround and Spanish 2.0 Surround and English, French and Spanish subtitles. The disc includes the following special features:
– Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: An Introduction by Steven Spielberg & George Lucas
– The Women: The American Film Institute Tribute–The three Indiana Jones women (Karen Allen, Kate Capshaw and Alison Doody) reunite for a discussion.
– Friends and Enemies–Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Indiana Jones writers discuss how they created the most iconic characters in film history, including a look at new faces in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
– Storyboard Sequence–The Opening Sequence
– Galleries
– Illustrations & Props — Production Photographs & Portraits — Effects/ILM — Marketing — Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures Game Demo and Trailer
A Sneak Peak at Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D
Last night I was lucky enough to screen 20 or so minutes of the upcoming Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D. Brendan Fraser was in attendance, speaking at snail speed as he was obviously ill. During Fraser’s panel, the actor explained that when he received the draft of the script, it had been rewritten many times by many writers. This is normal in Hollywood, he added. I thought to myself, ‘Yeah, it’s probably normal for a Brendan Fraser movie…” I digress.
So what is so special about Journey 3D? It’s the first digital 3D feature film created with the super duper special fusion high definition camera system that James Cameron used on Avatar. The camera system allows the two camera eyes to be moved closer or further apart to massage the 3D effect. Apparently you could never accomplish this with a 3D film camera.
We screened five scenes, an intense mine cart rollercoaster ride almost directly stolen from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. I expect some people might feel sick after this one, but the 3D effects are some of the best I have seen to date. You feel like you’re riding a theme park ride. The next sequence took place in a cave involving electric birds which fly around off of the screen and glow. A sequence on a rainy boat where they are being attacked by a swarm of huge pirana-like fish. The rain flies off the screen, out at the audience. In another sequence Brendan Fraser’s character saves Hannah from a giant carnivorous plant. And the last sequence involved Josh Hutcherson’s character trying to scape the wrath of a large T-Rex.
The special effects look very untextured compared to a lot of the big budget films of today, but like Beowulf the 3D quickly makes you forget some of the visual shortcomings. The story is as lame as it can get, packed with cheesy one-liners that a six year old might not even laugh at. That said, this was a very fun experience in a theme park ride kind of way. This is by far the most impressive 3D I have seen to date on a big screen release. Every shot was planned with that intention, and you can tell. But at the same time it doesn’t over-do the pop-out-at-you effects. There is a story after-all, unfortunately.
Director Eric Brevig worked on Captin EO and Honey I Shrunk the Audience, and what he has created is a theme park ride which can be shown at your local multiplex. The technological advances and fun factor over-weigh the horrendously bad script and subpar special effects. But the question is, is anyone interested in seeing this movie?