May 18 (Bloomberg) -- Indiana Jones, the daredevil archeologist, bounded back onto the big screen today after a 19- year absence with a splashy world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.

``Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,'' directed by Steven Spielberg, played to a packed house of critics and reporters. The fourth installment in the series features ``Indy'' -- played by Harrison Ford, now 65 -- clashing in Peru with an elite Soviet unit, led by Red Army agent Cate Blanchett, that seeks the crystal skull as a fast track to world domination.

The film's three forerunners -- ``Raiders of the Lost Ark'' (1981), ``Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'' (1984) and ``Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'' (1989) -- grossed a combined $1.19 billion at the box office worldwide, according to Web site boxofficemojo.com. And high hopes are placed on ``Crystal Skull''.

The film drew scattered applause at the end from the hundreds of critics and journalists who were the first audience in the world to see it. Actor Ford was asked later whether he feared the critical reaction.

``I'm not afraid at all, I expect to have the whip turned on me,'' he said at the crowded post-screening press conference, as he sat on a podium dressed in a well-cut steel gray suit, his salt-and-pepper hair cut short. ``It's not unusual for something popular to be disdained by some people.''

Retirement-Age Hero

In the entertaining two-hour movie, Indiana Jones makes no bones about his age -- there are multiple references to it, his hair is uniformly gray, and his tanned face has visible lines and marks. That doesn't stop the retirement-age hero from being the most invincible character on screen, suggesting that he may, in fact, come back.

Asked whether a fifth installment was on the cards, Spielberg said, ``Only if you want more of them.'' He told reporters that Indiana Jones and E.T were the only two of his movies that audiences ever requested follow-ups to. ``We'll have our ear to the ground to hear what happens.''

``Crystal Skull'' casts 21-year-old Shia LaBeouf as Indiana Jones's sidekick, Mutt, who accompanies him on the journey to find the skull. George Lucas is the film's executive producer and co-story writer.

Spielberg, commenting on the film's dedicated Web site, said that for years he thought Indiana Jones could not be revived. Fans, and actor Ford, persuaded him otherwise. It took 19 years to come up with the appropriate script. The team decided to make the hero 19 years older, too.

Spielberg last directed ``Munich'' (2006), about the 1972 killing of 11 Israeli athletes during the Munich Olympic Games.

The box-office totals for the earlier Indiana Jones film are not adjusted for inflation.

``Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'' is released by Viacom Inc.'s Paramount unit.

The film will be released in the U.S. and the rest of the world on May 22, according to production notes handed out to reporters today.

To contact the reporter on this story: Farah Nayeri in London farahn@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 18, 2008 11:46 EDT