Indiana Jones seen raiding the lost box office

By Sue Zeidler

LOS ANGELES, May 22 (Reuters) - To say Steven Spielberg's fourth "Indiana Jones" installment is highly anticipated doesn't come close to describing the buzz surrounding a film that many in Hollywood hope will revive a sluggish box office.

Days after its world premiere at the Cannes film festival in France, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" opened commercially on Thursday amid expectations that it could top $180 million in North American ticket sales through Memorial Day.

If its Friday-through-Monday tally crosses the $140 million mark, the film would surpass last year's "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" as the biggest domestic opening yet for a Memorial Day weekend. The movie is being released by Viacom Inc-owned (VIAb.N) Paramount Pictures.

Sony Corp's (6758.T) "Spider-Man 3" still holds the record for a traditional weekend opening with $151.1 million collected in its first Friday-through-Sunday frame in May of last year.

The latest "Indiana Jones" film, with Harrison Ford back as the bullwhip-cracking archeologist who hates snakes, arrived in 4,260 theaters in the United States and Canada just as the box office glow from "Iron Man," the summer's only breakout hit so far, is starting to fade.

It arrived on the heels of two big-event films -- "Speed Racer" and "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" -- that fell short of expectations during the past two weekends.

"We really need 'Indy' to reinvigorate the marketplace and get the box office back on track. It's one of the most anticipated movies for the year," said box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers.

Three weeks into the official summer movie season, a period that can account for as much as 40 percent of total annual ticket sales, domestic movie receipts were down 3.7 percent for the year and attendance was off 6.4 percent.

With the media hype, merchandising and heavy promotion swirling around one of Hollywood's most beloved franchises, many industry watchers are looking to "The Crystal Skull" to turn the tide.

"It's reasonable to expect 'Indiana Jones' to surpass 'Pirates' Memorial Day (Friday-to-Monday) weekend milestone opening of $140 million," said Brandon Gray, of the online movie site Box Office Mojo. "It's the right movie and the right time and the franchise is extremely popular."

Gray and others say the film's Thursday opening may stave off some demand for the movie later in the weekend, which is why analysts were careful not to predict that "Indy" would top the three-day weekend opening record held by "Spider-Man 3."

"Crystal Skull," which reunites Ford with Karen Allen, his co-star in the original 1981 Indiana Jones film, "Raiders of the Lost Ark," is widely expected to ultimately gross over $250 million domestically and $500 million worldwide.

Advance ticket sale vendors like Fandango.com and MovieTickets.com were reporting brisk demand on Thursday.

"Fans have been waiting for a good, old-fashioned popcorn movie. We polled over 5,000 moviegoers in the spring with 82 percent picking 'Indy' as the most anticipated movie," said Harry Medved, a spokesman for Fandango.

MovieTickets.com said on Wednesday, the eve of the film's release, the movie accounted for 77 percent of total tickets sold, and 87 percent by midday Thursday.