News reports are in. The trailer for the upcoming “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” is a sensation.

In a feat that Dr. Jones himself would be proud of, the newly released trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has managed to take over the Internet in less than 24 hours.

The two-minute trailer was released early yesterday morning by Paramount Pictures, showing a visibly aged Indiana Jones with whip in hand as he makes snide remarks about getting older and how his quest this time is not destined to be “as easy as it used to be.”

By last night, several versions of the trailer posted to online video website YouTube.com had attracted more than 10,000 viewers. Some of the Indiana Jones production video diaries posted to YouTube, detailing behind-the-scenes filming of the movie, have attracted more than 220,000 viewers over the past few months. And more than 7,140 fans had created Indiana Jones-inspired videos of their own, in anticipation of the new film, on the website.

The trailer was firmly at the No. 1 spot on the Yahoo! Movies website, which features trailers for all upcoming films. Features and articles about the adventure flick, to be released May 22, could be found on MTV.com, USA Today and E! Online. Even technology-related websites like Gizmodo.com, which usually posts information pertaining to the latest in consumer gadgetry, was prominently featuring the trailer.

“Indiana Jones is one of those almost mythological franchises,” said Robert Thompson, director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at the Syracuse University. “In Greek and Roman times, we had a certain number of characters that everybody knew. We’ve got those known in the modern era … Indiana Jones is so established, that franchise has become such a part of the mythos of the culture and now they have managed to bring him back.”

The article continues. As Eonline points out, the enthusiasm for the “Indiana Jones” 4 trailer virtually overshadowed Valentine’s Day.

Forget Valentine’s Day. Today is International Harrison Ford Appreciation Day, as Indiana Jones is back in a big way. I’ve watched the trailer, just out today, three times. It’s just sooo thrilling to wait for that rousing score to kick in, and I even like that tribute paid to all of Indy’s previous journeys. Bye-bye, Nazis. Hello, dusty fedora.

Hecklerspray comments on the excitement.

Of all the films made this year, none have been as highly anticipated as Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. That’s partly because the first three Indiana Jones films were enduring family classics and partly because nobody can quite believe that the minds behind The Terminal, The Phantom Menace and Firewall are really pooling their talent to make a movie together this year.

Anticipation for Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull has been so high that literally every last thing you could think of has been turned into a phalanx of squealing headlines. The script, the cast, the title, the petty robberies – an on-set visit just to listen to the producer compare the movie to a chair made the cover of Vanity Fair, which isn’t something you can say about, for example, Wizards Of Gore.