Disney announced Tuesday via The Hollywood Reporter that a fifth Indiana Jones film, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Harrison Ford, will be released July 19, 2019.
“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 Disney chairman Alan Horn. “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.”
A fifth film has been rumored even since the fourth hit theaters in May 2008. However, critical and fan backlash to Kingdom of the Crystal Skull seemed to cool talks initially. When Lucasfilm was bought by Disney in October 2012, Star Wars films were put into immediate development while the Indiana Jones franchise was not. Rumors persisted that a reboot was in order, with Chris Pratt’s name bandied about early last year as the ideal replacement, perhaps with Ford reprising the older role for bookends.
However, Ford was adamant about his desire to make a fifth film and Spielberg later said there could be no Indy other than Ford. The action-adventures, inspired by the 1930s serials that producer George Lucas and Spielberg grew up on, has long been envisioned as a five-film series.
Ford is filming the generic-sounding Official Secrets before seguing into the Blade Runner sequel with Ryan Gosling in July. Spielberg meanwhile has his family film The BFG coming to theaters that month and just cast Tye Sheridan in the coveted lead role in Ready Player One, about to start filming for a March 2018 release.
Excited for Ford and Spielberg to return for (presumably) one last crack of the whip? Or do you wish Disney had gone full Pratt? Sound off in the comments!
