Crystal Skull cracks the box office whip

Families came out in droves to catch “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” the PG-13 adventure starring Harrison Ford as the whip-cracking archaeologist who took 19 years to return to the big screen.

In a summer that has already seen “Iron Man” earn record numbers, “Indiana Jones” ran through the competition, scoring $126.1 million on its opening weekend. The haul was the second-biggest Memorial Day weekend opening on record, behind only last year’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End”, which earned $139.8 million.

The film raked in an additional $25 million on Thursday, bringing the fourth episode of the Harrison Ford franchise a stunning $151.1 million. Analysts had considered “Crystal Skull” a threat to the record holder, “Star Wars, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith,” which took in $172.8 million in 2005. But Crystal Skull ended up No. 5 among biggest five-day debuts, according to USA Today.

More than two-thirds of the audience was 25 or older — nearly a third of them parents, according to USA Today’s Scott Bowles. Though teenage boys create bigger debuts, family movies tend to stay in theaters longer.

In second place over the holiday weekend was “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” with $28.6 million, and “Iron Man” came in a strong third with $26.7 million, making its total gross to date $258 million.

Get more rankings! Read this week’s top events article