In a truly auspicious moment at Sunday’s Video Music Awards, Shia LeBeouf announced the title of the upcoming fourth installment in the Indiana Jones series:

So I’ve been sworn to secrecy by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas not to tell you the title of the next Indiana Jones movie. What the hell, I’m 21 and we’re in Vegas, baby, so here it goes. The official title to the next Indiana Jones installment: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

The much-anticipated film has already been filming for several months and will star Harrison Ford, Shia LeBeouf, Cate Blanchett, Jim Broadbent, John Hurt, Ray Winstone and Karen Allen.  It’s scheduled to open in theatres May 22, 2008.

Does anyone else think the title is a bit busy?  I mean, at least Raiders of the Lost Ark was officially titled as such, without the Indiana Jones and the at the beginning.  It could be worse, I suppose—how about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Shiny Crystal Skull or Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull that Bites People.  Imagine if M. Night Shyamalan, once offered a chance to write the screenplay, had penned the script: Indiana Jones and the Amish Comic Book Alien in the Water that Sees Dead People.  Scary.  But I’d love to see the poster.

Oh well, I suppose the title has little to do with the content—let’s hope that the film supersedes its bloated moniker, hmm?