‘Indiana Jones’ PlunderWatch: ‘Skull’ Cracks $9 Tril in Eight Hours

And we’re off! At the stroke of midnight, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull began screening on 4260 U.S. screens, and 12,000 more around the planet.

With a 4-day opening weekend poised to topple all previous box office records, we thought we’d celebrate the iconic treasure seeker’s historic return with an Indy PlunderWatch gross earnings projections clock. Using a complex algorithm that carefully calibrates screen count, market research, other openings, and hyperbole divided by fanboy prattling, our calculations* suggests that the sequel has in just nine short hours of release already laid waste to current title-holder Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End’s $US137 million take by well over nine-and-a-half trillion dollars.

*Margin of error: +/- 9.5 trillion.

• ‘Jones’ eyes box office bonanza [Variety]