SCENEIndiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Title Card
FILM FORMAT35mm
YEAR1984
CERTIFICATE IDNFV-000001461
Film RecordPublic record
Directed by
Steven Spielberg
Studio
Paramount Pictures · Lucasfilm · 116 min
Box office
$333.1M worldwide on a $28M budget
Honors
Academy Awards — 1 win, 2 nominationsAll 1 wins · 2 nominations on record
Academy Awards: Best Visual Effects
Scholarship
Named in the title of 3 peer-reviewed works
Examples
9. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom: anything goes — Columbia University Press eBooks, 2007
Masculinidades en Indiana Jones and the temple of doom (Spielberg 1984) — Revista de Ciencias de la Comunicación e Información, 2007
The Adventures of Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark/Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom/Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade — Sight & sound/Sight and sound, 2004
Sources: Wikidata · OpenAlex · Library of Congress. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom arrived from Paramount in 1984, the second entry in the series produced by Lucasfilm and directed by Steven Spielberg. Positioned as a prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark, it pushed the franchise into darker territory, trading buried relics for a jungle rescue plot steeped in ritual and menace. Its tonal shift, partly a response to its own intensity, later helped inspire the PG-13 rating in American cinema. The film remains a touchstone of 1980s adventure filmmaking, prized for its practical effects, breakneck pacing, and John Williams score.
This cell preserves the opening title card, the frame that greets an audience before the story begins. Such cells are sought after for marking the exact moment a film announces itself, distinct from trailer material or character portraiture. Here the interest lies purely in text and design, the typography chosen to signal tone before a single character appears. For collectors building a complete run of 35mm artifacts from the Indiana Jones series, a title card holds a particular place, representing the film's identity in its purest, most unadorned form.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm colour release print of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on each edge; spacing appears even and the punched holes appear cleanly cut with no visible tearing.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical soundtrack is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, appearing as a dual-bilateral (two-track) variable-area pattern.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read manufacturer codes or key numbers.
Base & colour
The base shows a warm amber-orange cast consistent with a colour dye image; no obvious fading or red shift is apparent.
Projection history
No visible scratches, splice marks, or cue marks are observed on this strip.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to show the same title-card composition, consistent with a title sequence from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
Era check
The dual-bilateral variable-area optical track and colour positive print format are consistent with a 1984 theatrical release print era, before digital soundtrack formats were introduced.
Read from the original intake capture shown below. Observations only — film is authenticated, not graded.
This original motion picture film element has been examined and authenticated by Crown Grading in partnership with National Film Vault, and encapsulated for archival preservation.
Why so little survivesRelease prints were leased to theaters, not sold. When the run ended they went back to the distributor to be destroyed, and most were. What collectors hold today came from the prints that escaped that order, and no new 35mm prints of these films are being struck.
CROWN SERIAL 000063305
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
