In the years following the release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, comments were made and hints were dropped that an Indiana Jones 5 wasn't far behind. Nothing has come of this yet, but Disney only recently signed the dotted line and made their ownership of the Indiana Jones franchise official, which seems to have gotten the ball - or boulder rather - rolling on not only Indiana Jones 5, but Indiana Jones 6 as well.

This isn't to say that Disney has any immediate plans for the next installment of Indiana Jones. After all, Disney Chairman Alan Horn recently said of their newly acquired franchise: "We haven’t done anything… We don’t have a story. We need a story.” That said, we've learned of certain Star Wars: Episode VII crew members being signed for a total of seven films - Episodes VII-IX, three spinoffs, and Indiana Jones 5 - which seems to imply after Disney has reestablished Star Wars, Indy is next.

Adding more fuel to the Indiana Jones fire are the details of Harrison Ford's Episode VII deal. As reported by one of Market Saw's top sources, Ford is in talks for Indy 5 and 6 as outlined in his Episode VII contract clause.

MarketSaw's source - who also indicated that Benedict Cumberbatch and Gary Oldman have signed for Star Wars 7 - had this to say about Ford and his future with the Indiana Jones franchise:

"Regarding Harrison Ford, two more 'Indiana Jones' features are in the negotiation stages as per Ford's contract clause on 'Star Wars,' which is the primary reason he didn't 'publicly' or 'privately' commit, or so I'm told."

Even though their involvement is still technically unconfirmed, Ford has been noticeably silent about Star Wars: Episode VII, unlike his original trilogy co-stars Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher. What's being suggested by MarketSaw's source sounds like we won't hear from Ford about Star Wars until his role in those Indy sequels is finalized. And surely, that will happen before Episode VII starts filming this summer. Which means some official word on Indy 5 and possibly Indy 6 will happen sooner rather than later.

Indiana Jones 5 Up to George Lucas

So what will Disney's time frame for these Indiana Jones sequels be? Seeing as it's in the early stages, it's really tough to pinpoint, but going back to Horn's comments about having no story - it may be a while. Which, quite honestly, brings up an even bigger question: How old will Ford be by the time these movies get made? Ford's already 71, and while Christopher Lee is still acting at the ripe old age of 91, it's not like he's playing the lead role in any action blockbusters.

With that in mind, would the plan be to reinvigorate the franchise with young blood? They've already tried - and most would agree failed - to do that with Shia Lebeouf in Indy 4. And with his recent "retirement" from acting, would he even be available? (That's if Disney would even want him back.) If not Lebeouf, should they simply recast Indiana and Marion Ravenwood's son or create another protégé for the aging archeologist?

Then again, many fans would suggest that an Indiana Jones film should be about Indiana Jones himself.

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Stay tuned to Screen Rant for more news on the future of Indiana Jones.

Source: MarketSaw