New Indiana Jones Film Coming, Release Date and News: Indy 5 with Harrison Ford?

Dec 31, 2015 02:57 PM EST

Considering that Star Wars has just got life breathed back into it by Disney, perhaps the same could happen to Indiana Jones.  Like the Star Wars prequels, the fourth film in the Indiana Jones series was not well-received, and some want to see Harrison Ford back in the hat once again.  According to Disney CEO, there are plans for another, and this is what we know about the Release Date and News.

According to Indiewire, a recent chat with Bob Iger, the Disney Chairman and CEO, has revealed the future of the Indiana Jones saga.  During Iger's tenure at Disney, the company has acquired Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm.  Disney is certainly seeing a lot of success with Star Wars, which Disney acquired from Lucas, and the rights to Indiana Jones was also included in this deal. 

In a conversation about the Star Wars sequels, Iger added that Indiana Jones will be coming.  Rumor has already got out that 2018 will be the release date.  According to a recent interview at Yahoo Movies, Spielberg says that he'll "probably do an Indy 5 with Harrison".  So it will be five for Harrison, and four [movies] for Tom [Hanks]".  The Oscar-winning director was talking about his latest film, Bridge of Spies, and it would be interesting to see the director helm another Indiana Jones movie. 

There have been rumors of a fifth Indiana Jones film ever since the fourth one was completed.  Granted, the fourth one was not considered a quality work by fans, particularly with the introduction of other-dimensional beings and Indy's son Mutt.  Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ended on a possible note that the felt fedora hat was going to be passed on to Mutt (Shia LaBoeuf), only to have Harrison Ford snatch the hat at the last second.  It was a signal to audiences that there would be more adventures of Indiana Jones. 

Perhaps the reason why this is being brought up now is Harrison Ford's recent performance in Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.  Audiences loved seeing Harrison back to play the iconic Han Solo, and so they would naturally line up to see him play Indiana Jones for what could be one final time.  Assuming the next Indiana Jones film does get released in 2018, Harrison Ford will be quite old at 76, a little too old to be the swashbuckling adventurer. 

There have been talks about rebooting Indy, or at least getting a younger actor to play him. Chris Pratt is a name that gets tossed around a lot with this. Some other names that are being thrown around include Bradley Coopoer, Chris Pine, Lee Pace, and Henry Cavill, according to Chron.   

It is clear that the best Indiana Jones films have Nazis and some kind of biblical artifact involved, and it would be interesting to see a new actor attempt to fill Ford's hat with that setting and plotline.  It could be a while before anything is solidified.