You can finally put all the casting rumors[1] to rest. The new Indiana Jones will be the old one, Harrison Ford.
Disney said Tuesday that Ford and director Steven Spielberg are reuniting for a fifth Indiana Jones movie. It doesn't have a title yet, but the movie is scheduled to hit theaters in wide release July 19, 2019. Ford, who was 38 years old when the character first appeared on film, will be 77 years old at the time of the next movie's release.
The studio didn't disclose who is writing the screenplay for the next installment of the franchise, which has grossed a total of $1.95 billion world-wide, according to Box Office Mojo[2]. The most recent entry in the series, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," was released in 2008 — nearly 20 years after the previous installment, "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade."
Ford's swashbuckling archaeologist made his debut in 1981′s "Raiders of the Lost Ark," which won four Academy Awards and was nominated for best picture. Spielberg, Ford and George Lucas followed up with "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" in 1984 and "The Last Crusade," which co-starred Sean Connery, in 1989.
Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, both veterans of the Indy franchise, will produce the new movie, Disney added. Absent from the announcement was Lucas, who created the Indiana Jones character and had a hand in the writing and/or producing of the previous four movies in the franchise.
Disney bought Lucasfilm[3] in 2012 for more than $4 billion, and in late 2013 it reached a deal with Paramount Pictures to distribute and market future Indiana Jones films. Paramount had released the earlier Indy installments.
The Lucasfilm acquisition has already yielded the monster success of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens,"[4] which went on to gross more than $2 billion internationally after its release in December.
Ford's revival of his Han Solo role in "The Force Awakens," the seventh "Star Wars" film, proved to be somewhat of a comeback for the movie star as he earned some of his best reviews in years. That could bode well for Indiana Jones fans, as "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" has come to be known as the worst film in the franchise despite it raking in more than $780 million in global box office receipts and a 78% fresh rating on criticism-aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes[5].
"Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" reunited Ford with "Raiders of the Lost Ark" co-star Karen Allen and paired him with Shia LaBeouf, who played the couple's son. Disney didn't reveal any casting details for the new movie beyond Ford.
This article has been updated from an earlier version.
References
- ^ all the casting rumors (blogs.wsj.com)
- ^ according to Box Office Mojo (www.boxofficemojo.com)
- ^ Disney bought Lucasfilm (www.wsj.com)
- ^ "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," (blogs.wsj.com)
- ^ Rotten Tomatoes (www.rottentomatoes.com)
