Indy conquers global box offices

Ray Winstone (left) appears in the film with Harrison Ford (right)

The new Indiana Jones film has more than recouped its budget after estimated global box office sales of $311m (�157m) in just five days.

Released 19 years after the last film in the series, The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull cost a reported $185m (�94m) to make.

Paramount Pictures estimated the film has made $151.1m (�76m) in North America, plus $160m (�81m) overseas.

The first three Indiana Jones movies raked in $1.2bn (�607m) worldwide.

Takings in the US and Canada have made it the second most lucrative film ever to open on the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull shot to the top of the North American box office chart, with Disney's The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian slipping to second place.

NORTH AMERICAN BOX OFFICE 1) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - $126m (�63.8m), plus a further $25.1m (�12.7m) on Thursday 2) The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - $28.6m (�14.5m) 3) Iron Man - $25.7m (�13m) 4) What Happens In Vegas - $11.2m (�5.7m) 5) Speed Racer - $5.2m (�2.6m) Figures are for Friday to Monday. Source: Media By Numbers

The latest Indiana Jones film sees Harrison Ford reprising his role as the whip-cracking professor, alongside Cate Blanchett and Shia LaBeouf.

Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers, which compiles box office figures, said it was benefiting from word-of-mouth recommendations.

"This is the definition of a summer movie from two of the architects of the summer movie season, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg," he said.

The most successful film to open on a Memorial Day weekend in the US was Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End, which took $139.8m (�70.7m) between the Friday and Monday in 2007.

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