The title of the next Indiana Jones movie is “Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull”. Harrison Ford’s co-star in the film, rising star Shia LeBeouf, made the announcement Sunday evening during the MTV Video Music Awards. Shia joked that he was coming up to his 18^th birthday and since the awards were taking place in Las Vegas this year it was time to do something naughty, then he revealed the title to the audience.

Indy fans have been speculating about what the new film’s title would be for a long time. Many considered “Indiana Jones and the Lost City” a leading candidate but just as producer George Lucas proved to the world when he revealed the titles for his three “Star Wars” prequels, you can never expect what Indy’s creator will do next. The new “Indiana Jones” movie will open on May 22, 2008 and will also star Cate Blanchett, Ray Winstone, John Hurt and Karen Allen, Ford’s love interest from “Raiders of the Lost Ark”.

Before he dons the fedora of adventurer Indiana Jones leading man has another movie project to work on first. Ford, Ray Liotta (“GoodFellas”) and Sean Penn (“Mystic River”) will start work on “Crossing Over” beginning this Wednesday, April 11. The drama is being directed by Wayne Kramer (“The Cooler”) and is being produced by the Weinstein brothers, Frank Marshall, Gregg Taylor and director Kramer.

The movie will examine the cloudy reality behind illegal immigration into the United States from Mexico. Ford will play an enforcement agent that stages raids to capture the illegal immigrants while Liotta plays a USCIS district adjudicator trying to solve the problems through the legal system. Penn’s role will be minor and he will only be needed for three days of filming playing a border patrol agent.

Like “Traffic”, which examined the drug problem and also starred several high profile actors, “Crossing Over” will hire more cast to round out the rest of the roles. Ironically, Ford turned down the part that Michael Douglas wound up playing in “Traffic”.

Get ready to see Indiana Jones don his trademark fedora and crack his whip because the creators of the billion dollar film franchise have set a date for when the next Indy movie arrives in movie theaters. Paramount Pictures, the studio behind the 1980s trilogy of “Indiana Jones” movies, has confirmed that the fourth and as-yet untitled film will be released on Thursday, May 22, 2008. That makes it 19 years since Harrison Ford was last seen playing the iconic character in 1989’s “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”.

Once again Steven Spielberg will direct the new “Indiana Jones” and George Lucas will serve as the movie’s producer. The screenplay is by David Koepp, the writer who turned in Spielberg’s screenplays for “War of the Worlds”, “Minority Report” and the first two “Jurassic Park” films. Spielberg and Lucas are out to have Sean Connery reprise his role as Indy’s father but the actor is waiting to read Koepp’s script before committing. Also rumored to be back but in cameo parts are the characters of Marion Ravenwood (played by Karen Allen in “Raiders of the Lost Ark“) and Willie Scott (played by Kate Capshaw, Spielberg’s real-life wife, in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom“).

Locations are now being scouted and filming is expected to start this spring. An ultra-tight clamp has been placed on the production, resulting in no leaks about what sort of new adventure Indy finds himself on. The only detail that has been confirmed is that the story does reflect Ford’s age (64), meaning the action in “Indiana Jones 4″ will take place sometime in the 1950s.