Another Indiana Jones Movie Poster

Here is another movie poster for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The latest installment of the Indiana Jones franchise will be in theaters on May 22. Do you think Jones will be the biggest blockbuster of this summer?

Among films considered probable blockbusters: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Iron Man, Sex and the City and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. But of those, only Jones is considered a favorite to crack $300 million, as Spider-Man, Shrek and Pirates all did last summer, Hollywood’s most important season, when at least 40% of the industry’s tickets are sold.

“We certainly come into this summer with more question marks,” says Paul Dergarabedian of Media By Numbers. “I think what Hollywood hopes to do is have two really solid movies for every huge hit we had last year. But that means more movies have to perform.”

And that means relying on untested films such as Speed Racer, the Will Smith action film Hancock and the animated Kung Fu Panda to fill theaters.

Dan Glickman, head of the Motion Picture Association of America, says that with 28 movies crossing the $100 million mark in 2007, summer doesn’t rely on a handful of gigantic movies. “No matter what’s going on in the world, there’s a great desire for people to see films,” he says.

Still, studios will premiere several movies this week not only to persuade theater owners to put their movies onto more screens but also to allay fears that 2008 could break the streak of three straight years of increased revenue.

“I don’t know that anyone is going to guarantee we have a summer as huge as we did last year,” Moore says. “But we do know some will be really big, and we’re bringing movies that could be dependable franchises. So we feel pretty good.”