The fourth filmin the Indiana Jones series will premiere at this year'sCannes, according to actor John Hurt, who appears in the film.

There has long been speculation that the Steven Spielberg-directed film - Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of TheCrystal Skull - would be one of this year's big Hollywood attractions at the festival.

And speaking on Jonathan Ross's BBC chat show, Hurtsaid: 'We will be opening the film at the Cannes Film Festival.'

Hurt was unwilling to give any further details to the popular host.

There has been no official confirmation and distributor PPI chief Andrew Cripps declined to comment to Screen International earlier this month.

Cripps did say that PPI's research shows an estimated 200 million people watched the trailer for the fourth instalment in the series, which went out at the beginning of March in theatres, television and online. Click here to see trailer.

'We've done some early tracking and the awareness on this film is very high and unprecedented this far out,' Cripps says. 'It's been 19 years since the last one and we're not of the view you can take anything for granted and will be out there with a large multimedia campaign.

'The film has four-quadrant appeal and is the kind of title you go day and date on. It's two weeks before the European Championships and it's important we get that headstart in the European markets before the tournament begins.'

Paramount's home-entertainment divisions will release the three previous Indiana Jonesfilms on DVD and the plan is to have global broadcasters show them in the coming months.

Promotional partners are handled by LucasFilm and range from Burger King to Kellogg's to mobile-phone operator O2 in the UK. For the record, Raiders Of The Lost Ark grossed approximately $156m overseas in today's dollars, while Temple Of Doom took $272m and The Last Crusade took $350m.

Click here for more on the summer blockbusters.