“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” chased down $311.1 million from moviegoers around the world, as nostalgic fans brought along their children to watch Harrison Ford’s latest escapades, distributor Paramount Pictures said on Monday.

The tally included $151.1 million from the United States and Canada — the second-highest U.S. Memorial Day holiday weekend opening in history — and $160 million from No. 1 launches in 61 other countries, the studio said.

Foreign highlights included $24 million in Britain and $14 million in France. Sales in France were boosted by the hype surrounding its glitzy world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on the French Riviera last Sunday.

Overall business was “driven by people in their 30s and 40s, and that audience was excited to see the movie and excited to bring their kids with them,” said Rob Moore, Paramount’s president of worldwide marketing, distribution and operations.

The worldwide tally set a record for both the Viacom Inc-owned studio and for the film’s director, Steven Spielberg. For both, the old mark was held by “War of the Worlds,” which opened to $202 million in a similar number of territories during the U.S. July 4 holiday weekend in 2005. Higher ticket prices and the slide of the U.S. dollar, which benefits exporters such as Hollywood studios, helped the new film’s cause.

In North America, where Paramount said two-thirds of the audience was aged 25 and older, the $151.1 million tally was bested only by the $153 million debut of “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” among Memorial Day openings.

“Crystal Skull,” which Paramount said cost $185 million to make, is the fourth movie in the lucrative “Indiana Jones” franchise, and the first to hit theaters in 19 years. Reviews were mixed, but evidently did not dissuade the franchise’s aficionados.

Ford, 65, reprises his role as the eponymous archeologist. He is joined by Australian actress Cate Blanchett and Spielberg’s hot new discovery, Shia LaBeouf. George Lucas, who created the franchise in 1981 with “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” returned as executive producer.

Aiming for the summer blockbuster status it will surely achieve, the fourth Indiana Jones movie piles the action on.

“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” hangs nearly non-stop chase and fight scenes from the most skeletal of plots. A rollercoaster doesn’t have a plot either and that’s essentially what the fourth Indiana Jones film is.

Rather than mess with success, director Steven Spielberg and co-writer, co-executive producer George Lucas follow their Indiana Jones blueprints precisely. For instance, “Crystal Skull” replaces the Holy Grail-hunting Nazis of 1989’s “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” with America’s Cold War foes, the Soviet Communists.

The year is 1957 and the Russians, led by imperious KGB agent Irina Spalko, tenaciously track Jones and his new, young sidekick, Mutt Williams. As the sword-wielding Spalko, Cate Blanchett lords it over men under her command and her captives, which, at one time or another, include Jones and Williams.

Harrison Ford, looking older yet fit and ready for more adventure, returns as Jones. In the acting department, Ford doesn’t do anything fancy. His character is all about getting the job done. There’s no emoting and only the briefest acknowledgement of the dearly departed. Which is to be expected. The movie’s incessant action doesn’t leave much time for acting.

Shia LeBeouf, like some teen idol riding shotgun with John Wayne in a vintage western, joins the 65-year-old Ford in “Crystal Skull” for riddle solving, tomb raiding and epic chases. LeBeouf, resembling Marlon Brando in the 1953 motorcycle gang drama, “The Wild One,” makes his entrance on two wheels. He provides weak comic relief, an excuse to fill the soundtrack with ’50s rock ’n’ roll and a link to Jones’ past that will come as no surprise anyone.

Blanchett, Oscar-nominated actress though she is, doesn’t make her KGB agent more than a cartoon character. But there’s no need to be flexing blue-chip thespian skills. The actress’ great cheek bones and cool, cruel eyes will suffice. Again, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” ain’t Shakespeare.

The same applies to Oscar-nominated actor John Hurt’s co-starring role as Professor Oxley. A friend of Jones, Oxley has gotten himself into historic trouble in Peru thanks to his quest for the legendary Crystal Skull of Akator.

It’s easy to accuse “Crystal Skull” principals Spielberg and Lucas of a lack of imagination. Despite a change of accents, the movie’s villains are an encore of earlier bad guys. Among the action scenes, for example, there’s nothing new about helpless characters plunging over waterfalls. And despite a relocation to the Peruvian jungle, the collapsing ruins there are old hat, too.

But this new Indiana Jones episode, filmed from a story by Lucas and Jeff Nathanson and screenplay by David Koepp, compensates for lack of imagination through bigger, louder, even more lavish execution. The filmmakers give the series’ followers exactly what they’d given them before, but this time the same old Indiana