‘Indiana Jones’ scores 2nd-best Memorial Day weekend

Indiana Jones may be a senior citizen, but the swashbuckling archeologist can still dig up box-office gold.

Since opening Thursday, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” has swept through theaters to snatch the second-largest box-office take for a Memorial Day weekend opening, falling just $2 million shy of the record set last year by “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.”

The Paramount Pictures film grossed $126 million in its first four days worldwide and was estimated to rake in an additional $25 million today.

“For bragging rights, the filmmakers may have wished it would have overtaken ‘Pirates,’ ” said media analyst Harold Vogel. “But there’s no denying that these are very impressive results.”

Paramount executives credit the movie’s performance to its broad intergenerational appeal. Two-thirds of those in the audience were older than 25. Three of 10 were parents who took their children to see the film.

“There are a lot of adults who fondly recall the ‘Indy’ franchise from their childhood, and they all wanted to share it with their children,” said Rob Moore, Paramount’s vice chairman, who was himself planning to take his three sons to see the movie today.

Fan nostalgia also gave a boost to DVD sales of the three earlier installments of the “Indiana Jones” franchise, which Paramount rereleased as individual films May 13. Previously, they were available only as a three-movie set.

“The response to the DVD release has been exceptional,” said Moore, who noted that the studio would release disc sales figures Tuesday.

“Crystal Skull,” directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by George Lucas, stars a 65-year-old Harrison Ford, who delivers a few wry remarks in the movie about his age.

It’s likely, however, that the trio will have the last laugh when the final sales are tallied. In an unusual arrangement, Spielberg, Lucas and Ford agreed to defer their payments until after Paramount has recouped its expenses by pulling in about $400 million in revenue, according to studio sources. After that, the three will split $7 of every $8 the movie grosses, with Paramount taking $1.

Based on its performance thus far, Paramount has estimated that the movie’s total worldwide box-office figure will land between $600 million and $700 million, according to studio sources.

 alex.pham@latimes.com