Most are aware that when Disney bought the rights to Star Wars so they could film more stories set "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away", included in this deal was the rights to the story of an archaeologist with a fear of snakes. There has been very little news as far as what Disney wants to do with this beloved Indiana Jones franchise, but it sounds like Steven Spielberg is willing to do it one more time with an Indiana Jones 5.
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 he is set to direct an adaptation of Ernest Cline's best-selling novel Ready Player One due to be released in 2017.
With Spielberg and another Indiana Jones film, one would think that the studios would be all over that plan as soon as possible. However, CinemaBlend states that Disney chairman Alan Horn was not so optimistic about the future of Indiana Jones. He told Variety that there was no work done with the Indy franchise because there was no story. However, earlier this year, Kathleen Kennedy, the president of Lucasfilm, said that another Indy film is "in the cards", but they haven't started working on a script. Producer Frank Marshall has said that another installment is far off.
The biggest issue with a fifth Indiana Jones film is the fourth Indiana Jones film, Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. The film made a lot of money, but it is not considered "good" by many. Most criticized that Harrison Ford, who was 65 at the time, was too old to play the part. It looked like the end of the film would be Indy passing the iconic fedora hat to Shia LaBeouf, but it turned out to be a tease. Most also criticized the idea of Shia LaBeouf becoming essentially the next generation of Indiana Jones.
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. 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.
However, if Spielberg wants to do another Indy film with Ford (who is now 73), then it would have to take place right after the not-so-iconic fourth Indiana Jones movie. There is another way around this. Perhaps a younger actor could play Indiana Jones, and Ford could play Dr. Henry Jones, originally played by Sean Connery in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. That is just a suggestion, as it would be pretty hard to make a good Indy movie.
