'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' met expectations, accounting for nearly 60 percent of the holiday weekend ticket sales. The film grossed $101 million from Friday to Sunday, and $126.1 million from Friday to Monday. Including its Thursday debut of $25 million, the movie delivered $151.1 million in the first five days, Exhibitor Realtions Co. announced.
Although the film did not set any records or meet the highest projections of a $175 million debut, it did surpass all but four other movies in ticket sales in its first 120 hours in theaters.
'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' ranks 10th in three-day weekend openings, just ahead of the recently released 'Iron Man,' according to Box Office Mojo. It is seventh in the annals of four-day Memorial Day weekend debuts.
However, not everyone is rushing to theaters to see the film. According to news reports, members of Russia's Communist party have called for the movie to be banned throughout the country.
In the film, Cate Blanchett plays the leader of a Russian communist organziation that is in the United States in 1957. Present day Russian Communist party members claim the movie inaccurately portrays the party during that time period, and have said it will provide youngsters an inaccurate view of history. They have said the movie needs to be banned to prevent "ideological sabotage.""Our movie-goers are teenagers who are completely unaware of what happened in 1957. They will go to the cinema and will be sure that in 1957 we made trouble for the United States and almost started a nuclear war," Communist party chief Sergei Malinkovich said. "It's rubbish. In 1957 the Communist party did not run with crystal skulls throughout the US. Why should we agree to that sort of lie and let the West trick our youth?"
