Indiana Jones returns to the screens

May 22, 2008 The new film about the fictional character Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones Jr. played by Harrison Ford premiered worldwide on May 22, four days after the opening of the 61st Cannes Film Festival in France.

The film is about the fictional mystery surrounding the crystal skulls, which do exist in reality, but are considered fakes by some sceptical scientists. "Some of them are quite good, but some of them look like they were produced with a Black & Decker in someone's garage", Professor Ian Freestone of Cardiff University said, arguing that the ancient Aztecs or Mayans might not have had instruments with modern tool capabilities for the task.

The film was directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by George Lucas (Lucasfilm).

Alongside Ford, the film features stars Shia LaBeouf and Cate Blanchett. The latter of the two was 'butched up' for the role of the Soviet agent, the main villain in the film.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was rated PG-13 and runs 2 hours and 3 minutes. The film budget was US$185 million and it will need to gross US$400 million or more at theatres to make a profit for Paramount Pictures.

The previous film of the franchise was released in May of 1989 &mdash; 19 years ago.