INDIANA JONES 5 Officially Announced For 2019!!!

There has been some rumors circulating for the last few years that it might be happening, but Disney has made it official – Director Steven Spielberg and star Harrison Ford are reuniting for a fifth Indiana Jones film!

Here is the official press release sent out today –

Indiana Jones will return to the big screen on July 19, 2019, for a fifth epic adventure in the blockbuster series. Steven Spielberg, who directed all four previous films, will helm the as-yet-untitled project with star Harrison Ford reprising his iconic role. Franchise veterans Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall will produce.

“Indiana Jones is one of the greatest heroes in cinematic history, and we can’t wait to bring him back to the screen in 2019,” said Alan Horn, Chairman, The Walt Disney Studios. “It’s rare to have such a perfect combination of director, producers, actor and role, and we couldn’t be more excited to embark on this adventure with Harrison and Steven.”

Famed archaeologist and explorer Indiana Jones was introduced in 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark – one of AFI’s 100 Greatest American Films of All Time – and later thrilled audiences in 1984’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, 1989’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The four films have brought in nearly $2 billion at the global box office.

The first thing to note is the absence of a certain name in the press release – George Lucas. Co-creator of the franchise with Spielberg, in the past he had veto power over any story that the franchise would tell, which is what turned Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull into a compromised mess of a film. Speculation that Disney could mount a Lucas-less Indiana Jones film not that he had sold his production company Lucasfilm to the Mouse House began almost before the ink on the deal was dry. Presumably with Lucas not in the picture, we may get a film more pure to the ideas that Spielberg and Ford wish to explore. It worked for Star Wars.

Up until this point, Paramount had the distribution rights to the Indiana Jones franchise, and that was seen as somewhat of a possible sticking point for Disney moving forward with a fifth film. Presumably some sort of deal has been worked out between the two giants, and at some point details of it will leak out.

Indiana Jones 5 his currently set for a July 19, 2019 release, with no other film having claimed that date yet. The week before is Marvels’ The Inhumans, but I am guessing that since both are subsidiaries of Disney, Inhumans will probably be moved in order to let both of them have some breathing room.