Disney Confirms An Indiana Jones Sequel, Again

Hey, do you remember that fifth Indiana Jones movie that people keep talking about but that has no real details or substance beyond the fact that it will probably happen at some point? Well, there’s big news…it’s still coming.

Yeah, nothing has really changed, but that didn’t stop Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger from talking about it during a recent chat with Bloomberg. He didn’t say much, but in the midst of a conversation about how the Star Wars can potentially continue to take over the world (outside of a wave of new babies name Rey, Finn, and Poe, and one or two named Kylo), and what’s on the horizon, he touched on Indiana Jones 5, saying:

…and Indiana Jones, which will be coming.

That’s all he said, which isn’t much, or anything different than what we’ve heard in the past from multiple people, but when the big man in charge of Disney says it will be so, you rest fairly confident in the knowledge that it will. When? Who knows? Though there was a potential 2018 release date bandied about back in June.

Iger is far from the only one talking about Indiana Jones 5. Though Disney may have acquired Lucasfilm primarily for Star Wars, a move that has been pretty successful (in addition to that, Iger was also instrumental in the company picking up Pixar and Marvel), the Indy franchise is another with the potential to be rather lucrative, so most assumed we would see more eventually. Both Steven Spielberg, who directed the first four chapters, and Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy (as well as her husband, super producer Frank Marshall) have thrown their voices into the chorus. The latter even called it a "priority" not too long ago.

It’s also been said that the 73-year-old franchise frontman, Harrison Ford, won’t be recast—there was talk that Guardians of the Galaxy star Chris Pratt could be the torch bearer—though given how old he’ll be when this finally comes together, odds are he won’t be doing as much swinging from his trademark whip as he used to. Perhaps he can put his years of archaeological expertise to good use in a mentor capacity, guiding the brightest young minds of swashbuckling high adventure along their journey. For his part, Ford has said a number of times that, as long as the script is right, he’s more than game to don that leather jacket and fedora combo once again. Between Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Blade Runner 2, it will be the third of his most iconic roles he’ll revisit late in his career.

There’s no word on when Indiana Jones 5 might happen, or even if there have been more than preliminary discussions on the matter, but the more the people driving the bus talk about it, the more it seems like this is going to happen.

Brent McKnight