Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a 2008 American action adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg from a screenplay by David Koepp, based on a story by George Lucas and Jeff Nathanson.

[3] Set in 1957, it pits Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) against Soviet KGB agents led by Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) searching for a telepathic crystal skull located in Peru.

[4] In 1957, Soviet agents led by Colonel Doctor Irina Spalko kidnap American archeologist Indiana Jones and his partner George "Mac" McHale.

Mutt Williams, a young greaser, approaches Jones and informs him that his former colleague, Harold "Ox" Oxley, found a crystal skull in Peru in search of the mythical city Akator.

While en route to Akator, Jones retakes the skull from the Soviets and escapes from them alongside Marion, Ox, Mutt and Mac, who claims to be a double agent, all the while leaving a trail for Spalko.

Jones and his companions locate Akator, where they learn that the skull belonged to one of thirteen "interdimensional beings" whom the early Ugha tribes worshipped as deities.

As Ox regains his sanity, Jones and his party return to the United States where he is reinstated at Marshall College and promoted to associate dean.

[15] Joel Stoffer and Neil Flynn have minor roles as FBI agents Taylor and Paul Smith interrogating Indiana in a scene following the opening sequence.

When shooting the fight, Ford accidentally hit his chin, and Spielberg liked Diatchenko's humorous looking reaction, so he expanded his role to three months of filming.

[16] Just like how the 1930s Saturday matinée serials inspired the first three Indiana Jones films as well as Star Wars, Lucas felt that B-movies such as The Thing from Another World (1951), It Came from Outer Space (1953) and Them!

[44] Meanwhile, Spielberg believed he was going to mature as a filmmaker after making the trilogy and felt his role in any future installments would be relegated to that of mere producer.

[16] Perceiving that Ford and Spielberg opined that the film was too much an obvious Lucas-Spielbergian idea, Lucas personally felt that Ford and Spielberg didn't fully understand the franchise's malleability; instead of doing the exact same movie all the time, all they had to do was to test different genres with each installment and it wouldn't stop being an adventure of the title character looking after some artifact as long it were a believable MacGuffin with an archaeological or historical background.

Lucas found those artifacts as fascinating as the Ark of the Covenant,[47] and had intended to feature them for a Young Indiana Jones episode before the show's cancellation.

[30][53] An extensive chase scene set at the fictional Marshall College was filmed between June 28 and July 7 at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut (where Spielberg's son Theo was studying).

[53][54][55] To keep in line with the fact the story takes place in the 1950s, several facades were changed, although signs were put up in between shots to tell the public what the store or restaurant actually was.

[56] Because of an approaching hurricane, Spielberg was unable to shoot a fight at a waterfall, so he sent the second unit to film shots of Brazil's and Argentina's Iguazu Falls.

Bradley drew traditional storyboards instead, and was given free rein to create dramatic moments, just as Michael D. Moore did when directing second unit for the original trilogy, such as the truck chase in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

[68] John Williams began composing the score in October 2007;[69] 10 days of recording sessions wrapped on March 6, 2008, at Sony Pictures Studios.

As an in-joke, Williams incorporated a measure and a half of Johannes Brahms' "Academic Festival Overture" when Indiana and Mutt crash into the library.

Prior to release, moviegoers on the Internet scrutinized numerous photos and the film's promotional Lego sets in hope of understanding plot details.

[78] An extra in the film, Tyler Nelson, violated his nondisclosure agreement in an interview with the Edmond Sun on September 17, 2007, which was then picked up by the mainstream media.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department set up a sting operation after being alerted by a webmaster that the thief might try to sell the photos.

[92] The Boston-based design studio Creative Pilot created the packaging style for the film's merchandise, which merged Drew Struzan's original illustrations "with a fresh new look, which showcases the whip, a map and exotic hieroglyphic patterns".

As the $185 million budget was larger than initially expected, Lucas, Spielberg and Ford turned down large upfront salaries so Paramount could cover the film's costs.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Though the plot elements are certainly familiar, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull still delivers the thrills and Harrison Ford's return in the title role is more than welcome.

I want man-eating ants, swordfights between two people balanced on the backs of speeding jeeps, caverns of gold, vicious femme fatales, plunges down three waterfalls in a row, and the explanation for flying saucers.

"[131] The film's depiction of Peru also received criticism from the Peruvian and Mexican public, as it jumbles elements of Precolumbian cultures from those countries (like references to Maya that never lived in Perù).

[144] At the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, LaBeouf told Los Angeles Times he had "dropped the ball on the legacy that people loved and cherished" and felt that "the movie could have been updated ... we just misinterpreted what we were trying to satiate.

[148] Seitz also considers the "nuke the fridge" scene as one of the series' best, stating that "It brings Indy forward into the world that birthed Steven Spielberg and his Boomer-fueled fantasies of earlier generations.

[161] On March 15, 2016, Walt Disney Studios announced that Spielberg and Ford would both return for a fifth Indiana Jones film, initially scheduled for release on July 19, 2019.