The untitled fifth Indiana Jones film is an upcoming American action-adventure film directed by James Mangold, with a script co-written by Mangold, Jez Butterworth, and John-Henry Butterworth. It stars Harrison Ford reprising his role as Indiana Jones, with new cast members including Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Kretschmann, Boyd Holbrook, Shaunette Renée Wilson, and Toby Jones.
The film is the sequel to 2008’s Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and is the fifth film in the Indiana Jones film series. It is also the first film in the series to be distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures since Lucasfilm’s acquisition by Disney in 2012, and the studio’s first live-action film overall outside the Star Wars franchise ever since the acquisition.
About the development of the movie
George Lucas began researching potential plot devices in 2008, although the project stalled for years. He passed the project to producer Kathleen Kennedy in 2012, when she became the president of Lucasfilm. Progress on a fifth film remained dormant while the company worked on the Star Wars sequel trilogy.
David Koepp was eventually hired to write the fifth film in 2016, with a release date set for 2019, although this was delayed several times due to script rewrites. Jonathan Kasdan was hired to replace Koepp in 2018, and Koepp was working on the script again in 2019, before eventually leaving the project. Steven Spielberg, the director of the first four films, was originally set to direct the fifth. However, he stepped down in 2020 to serve as a producer instead, with Mangold taking his place as director. Filming began in the United Kingdom in June 2021.
Plot Summary
Following the Communist-punching, ‘50s-set Cold War antics of Crystal Skull, Indy 5 will jump forward into the ‘60s, with Mangold indicating it could take place at least partially in NY. The nuts and bolts of the story are open to speculation, but rumors have frequently mentioned it has to do with the Space Race and will see Indy return to the time-honored (and now more relevant than ever) pastime of punching Nazis.
Whether he’s punching said Nazis in the ’60s or the past, Nazis will be punched. Early set photos revealed Indy going up against a cadre of goose-steppers traveling the European countryside by train. Fans also spotted a stuntman wearing a mask resembling a younger Ford and noted the presence of tiny visual-effects dots on Ford’s face… the kind that is typically used for the type of digital de-aging used in Marvel films, Star Wars flashbacks, and Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman. The period details coupled with the presumed VFX work points to a flashback in which Ford will play the younger version of Indy, perhaps detailing some of his adventures as a WWI-era spy alluded to in Crystal Skull.
Cast Details
Harrison Ford as Dr. Henry “Indiana” Jones, Jr.: An American archaeologist and adventurer, who is married to Marion Ravenwood.
Additionally, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Kretschmann, Boyd Holbrook, Shaunette Renée Wilson, and Toby Jones are cast in undisclosed roles.
Release Date
The film is scheduled for release on July 29, 2022.
