Disney has announced plans to add a fifth movie to one of the best-loved adventure franchises of all time. An untitled Indiana Jones sequel is in the works, Deadline reports, with a planned premiere date of 19 July 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," Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn said in a statement.
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The old gang is back together
Director Steven Spielberg will be at the helm for the fifth time as are husband-and-wife producers Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy, who have been involved with the franchise since Raiders of the Lost Ark. And, of course, Harrison Ford will be reprising his iconic role in the lead.
It could star Chris Pratt
When Deadline broke the news that a sequel was in the works back in February 2015, they hinted that the new instalment could feature man-of-the-hour Chris Pratt. Apparently, Pratt is still being considered, but with further episodes of Jurassic World and Guardians of the Galaxy already lined up, Indy could prove a franchise too far for the 36-year-old star.
There could be more to come.
Until 2012, George Lucas had to approve the script and story for any new Indiana Jones film, causing long delays between sequels. Now that Disney has bought Lucasfilm, it's full steam ahead. However, Ford will be 76 when the next film hits the screen, so audiences shouldn't expect too much whip-cracking and boulder-dodging. Instead, Dr Jones will probably take on more of a mentoring role, similar to Ford's appearance as Han Solo in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Indiana and the hippies?
The last instalment, 2008's Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, featured every 1950s trope in the book, from nuclear bombs to UFO sightings. Ever since Disney announced a fifth movie, fans have been speculating what forces of evil Indy will be up against if the story takes Dr Jones into the 1960s:
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