As expected, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull absolutely killed at the holiday box office, with a three-day total of $101 million dollars and a four-day opening of over $126 million. With a worldwide opening of $272 million, it’s pretty safe to say that the Indy franchise has a surprising amount of leg left, considering the last movie in the series came out almost exactly 19 years ago (May 24, 1989 versus May 22, 2008). That’s the fifth-highest worldwide opening of all time, which means Indy is a global icon.
I skipped a movie in the middle.
With $3.9 million, the fifth-place movie this weekend was Speed Racer. Its domestic box office total of $36 million is pretty lousy, to put it mildly. I’m trying not to kick a pair when they’re down, but I really don’t think studios will trust the Wachowskis with a couple hundred million dollars again, unless of course Speed Racer sells like hotcakes on DVD. They look like a couple of one-trick ponies after the awful Matrix sequels and the incredibly overrated V for Vendetta. Maybe the brothers need an actual director (and writer) to set them straight; perhaps they’ll surprise me and make a movie without special effects for once. I don’t know what they might do, but I can tell you for sure this isn’t it.
