Fortune and Glory, Kid. Fortune and Glory.
By Jeff Feuerhaken
Disney has announced that Harrison Ford will once more don the hat and whip to play Indiana Jones in the fifth film in the series, slated for a summer 2019 release. Also set to return to is director Steven Spielberg, who had directed all four of the previous installments. Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall will be producing, but as of yet there has been no mention of George Lucas being involved. Lucas had previously stepped away from the Star Wars franchise after the megasale of the Lucasfilm brand to Disney, and now it appears he won’t be involved in the Indiana Jones franchise, either. They could bring him onboard in a consulting capacity, but that has yet to be seen.
Disney hit it massively huge with their first Lucasfilm release, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. Although released in December, away from the most profitable summer months, the film left a wake of decimated box office records and was met with a considerable amount of critical acclaim. J.J. Abrams directed the film, which set the stage for a new generation of characters within the Star Wars universe while staying true to the legacy by including characters from the original films. One must wonder, with star Harrison Ford now 73 years old, if Disney plans on using this upcoming Indy film to hand the reins (or whip) down to the younger generation. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the most recent film in the franchise, appeared to be taking this approach by the inclusion of Indy and Marion’s son, Mutt (played by Shia LeBeouf), but we all know how that turned out. No bueno.
I’ve been a big fan of the Indiana Jones series ever since I was a wee lad, so of course I’m excited to see what comes next. I’m hoping that with Spielberg’s team given creative control, we’ll see something akin to the excellent earlier films, rather than that last weak sauce piece o’ crap. 2019 seems far away, however, so in the meantime I’ll just have to be content with more Star Wars films and spin-offs. And who knows, maybe they’ll finally make that Uncharted movie. Wouldn’t that be cool? Yes, it would.
