Marketing
The film's teaser trailer debuted in November 1988 with Scrooged and The Naked Gun.[33] Rob MacGregor wrote the tie-in novelization that was released in June 1989;[34] it sold enough copies to be included on the New York Times Best Seller list.[35] MacGregor went on to write the first six Indiana Jones prequel novels during the 1990s. Following the film's release, Ford donated Indiana's fedora and jacket to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.[36]
No toys were made to promote the film; Indiana Jones "never happened on the toy level", said Larry Carlat, senior editor of the journal Children's Business. Rather, Lucasfilm promoted Indiana as a lifestyle symbol, selling tie-in fedoras, shirts, jackets and watches.[37] Two video games based on the film were released by LucasArts in 1989: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Action Game. A third game was produced by Taito and released in 1991 for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Ryder Windham wrote another novelization, released in April 2008 by Scholastic, to coincide with the release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Hasbro released toys based on The Last Crusade in July 2008.[38]
Box office
The film was released in the United States and Canada on Wednesday, May 24, 1989, in 2,327 theaters, earning a record $37,031,573 over the 4-day Memorial Day weekend.[39] The gross was boosted by high ticket prices in some venues ($7 a ticket).[40] Its 3-day opening weekend figure of $29,355,021[41] was surpassed later that year by Ghostbusters II and Batman, which grossed more in its opening 3 days than The Last Crusade in 4.[42] The film would hold the record for having the highest Memorial Day gross until 1994 when The Flintstones took it.[43] Additionally, it had the largest opening weekend for a Harrison Ford film for eight years until Air Force One surpassed it in 1997.[44] Its Saturday gross of $11,181,429 was the first time a film had made over $10 million in one day. It broke the record for the best seven-day performance with a gross of $50.2 million,[45] beating the $45.7 million grossed by Temple of Doom in 1984 on 1,687 screens.[40] It added another record with $77 million after twelve days, and earned $100 million in a record nineteen days.[46] In France, the film broke a record by selling a million admissions within two and a half weeks.[36] In the UK it opened in three London theaters before opening two days later on 361 screens nationally, setting an opening weekend record of £1,811,542 ($2,862,200), breaking the one set the year before by Crocodile Dundee II.[47][48] It spent six weeks at number one in the UK.[49]
The film eventually grossed $197,171,806 in the United States and Canada and $277 million internationally, for a worldwide total of $474,171,806.[1] At the time of its release, the film was the 11th highest-grossing film of all time. Despite competition from Batman, The Last Crusade became the highest-grossing film worldwide in 1989.[50] In North America, Batman took top position.[42] Behind Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Raiders, The Last Crusade is the third-highest grossing Indiana Jones film in the United States and Canada, though it is also behind Temple of Doom when adjusting for inflation.[51] Box Office Mojo estimates that the film sold over 49 million tickets in North America.[52] The film was re-released in 1992 earning $139,000.[1]
Home media
The film was released along with its two predecessors as part of a trilogy DVD box set in 2003. It contained extra materials and a special documentary covering the production of the films. Sales figures for the box set were extremely successful and 600,000 copies were sold in the US on the first day of release.[53] In 2012, the film and was released on Blu-ray along with the three other films in the Indiana Jones film series at the time.[54] In 2021, a remastered 4K version of the film was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray, produced using scans of the original negatives. It was released as part of a box set for the then four films in the Indiana Jones film series.[55]
