Indiana Jones 5 has been trapped in development for years, and it was recently met with a slew of obstacles which ultimately pushed its release to 2022. First, Steven Spielberg stepped down, passing the role of director to James Mangold while remaining on as a producer. Most recently, Disney pushed the release of the film due to an injury on set. From the mind of George Lucas and directed by Steven Spielberg, the world was introduced to archeology professor Dr. Henry Walton “Indiana” Jones Jr. (Harrison Ford) in Raiders of the Lost Ark back in 1981. The film was a big success, becoming the highest-grossing film of the year and kickstarting a franchise that has expanded to other media, such as television, video games, toys, and even theme park attractions.
The universe of Indiana Jones continued in 1984 with the prequel Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, with Ford reprising his role as the titular archeologist/hero and Spielberg in charge of directing once more. The pair reunited once more in 1989 in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and later in 2008 in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The Indiana Jones franchise is now part of pop culture and the character has even served as inspiration and influence to others, most notably Tomb Raider’s protagonist Lara Croft.
Jones’ adventures are not over yet and a fifth film was announced in 2016, with Spielberg and Ford joining forces once more and George Lucas back as executive producer. However, the film has been delayed a couple of times, and underwent a transition of leadership roles. Here’s every delay and setback Indiana Jones 5 has gone through.
Indiana Jones 5 Has Been In Development For Years
Rumors about a fifth Indiana Jones film have been floating around for years. At some point, it was believed that Indiana Jones 5 was going to make Shia LaBeouf’s character Mutt Williams (introduced in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) the new lead, something that obviously didn’t sit well with Harrison Ford. In 2008, Lucas revealed that he had an idea to make Mutt Williams the lead character and “have Harrison Ford come back like Sean Connery did in the last movie”, but he ultimately changed his mind. Harrison Ford has always been up to reprising his role and has been very honest about any other characters taking the spotlight away from Jones. He also added that he wouldn’t return if the film was an animated one, like The Clone Wars, as he wouldn’t like to see the character (and everything the films have built) reduced.
In 2009, there were rumors saying Indiana Jones 5 would start filming in 2011 and that the plot involved the Bermuda Triangle, but these were quickly shut down. By the end of 2009, Lucas was working on the story, and in 2011, Karen Allen (who played Marion Ravenwood) shared there was an idea, which was “a huge step forward”, but hadn’t heard much about it as they were still working on it. In the summer of 2012, producer Frank Marshall said it was unlikely Indiana Jones 5 was going to be announced in the near future, as there was no writer. All this changed a few months later, when Disney acquired Lucasfilm, and with that, the franchises of Star Wars and Indiana Jones, though Paramount Pictures held the distribution rights of the latter. The following year, Disney purchased the distribution and marketing rights to future Indiana Jones films, allowing the studio to move forward with a new film.
Indiana Jones 5 Gets A 2019 Release
Following the acquisition of Lucasfilm and the marketing and distribution rights of future Indiana Jones titles, former Disney CEO Bob Iger expressed interest in monetizing the Indiana Jones franchise across Disney’s various company divisions – which isn’t surprising at all given that that’s what they did with Star Wars. However, Indiana Jones has proven to be a trickier one. After much speculation, and Kathleen Kennedy saying that a new film “will one day be made inside this company” but they hadn’t started working on the script yet, Indiana Jones 5 was finally announced in March 2016.
The film was then scheduled for a July 19, 2019 release, and was confirmed to have Ford back as the title character, Spielberg as director, David Koepp as writer, John Williams as composer, and Kennedy and Marshall as producers, with Lucas later confirmed to be on board as executive producer. In 2017, the release date for Indiana Jones 5 was changed to July 10, 2020, most likely due to scheduling conflicts, as Spielberg was about to begin working on The Post and then on Ready Player One. With this new release date, the film was expected to begin production in early 2019, with Spielberg later confirming that filming would start in April 2019 in the UK.
Indiana Jones 5 Is Pushed Back To 2021 (And Further...)
A new release date didn’t mean that the team behind Indiana Jones 5 had everything set and ready to go this time. In early 2018, Lucasfilm approached A Quiet Place writers Scott Beck and Bryan Woods to discuss both the Indiana Jones and Star Wars franchises, but nothing came out of these meetings. A few months later, it was revealed that Jonathan Kasdan had replaced Koepp as writer, and that the film wouldn’t be able to meet the 2020 release date. Not long after, Disney pushed it back to July 9, 2021. In May 2019, Kasdan (who had already written a script from scratch) was replaced by Dan Fogelman, whose script used “an entirely different premise”. However, in September 2019, Koepp said he was working on Indiana Jones 5 again and they had “got a good idea this time”.
As for when the film would enter production, Ford mentioned it would begin sometime in 2020, and later hinted at him starting filming as early as April 2020. In an interview with IGN, Ford shared that the script was “very good”, as it sees “new developments in his life, his relationship” and “part of his history resolved”, and was really looking forward to it – however, in a separate talk with HeyUGuys, he said the project was still facing “scheduling issues and a few script things”. Sadly, the project came across with a major obstacle when Spielberg decided to step down as director in February 2020, stating he wanted to “pass along Indy’s whip to a new generation to bring their perspective to the story”. Spielberg continues to serve as producer, and James Mangold has since replaced him as director.
Of course, in early 2020 when filming for Indiana Jones 5 was supposedly scheduled to begin, the world was rocked by the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, leading Disney (and every other major film studio) to delay film release dates indefinitely. As the world went into quarantine to combat the spread of the virus, the release of Indiana Jones 5 was delayed yet again to July 29th, 2022.
Indiana Jones 5 Delayed Yet Again Until Summer 2023
After the pandemic delay forced the release date of Indiana Jones 5 back to July 29th, 2022, that release date held firm for more than a year, until announcements in October of 2021 that Disney was yet again delaying the release of several blockbuster films, Indiana Jones included. The latest release date for the long-awaited movie is June 30, 2023. Disney has not announced an official reason behind the delay (which also includes delays for the entire lineup of the MCU’s Phase 4), though chances are it is due to further coronavirus impacts as well as a shoulder injury that Ford sustained while on set in June of 2021. Ford was seen in a cast for several weeks, and though he has since recovered, the injury no doubt set back some of the filming scheduled to take place over the summer.
While Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings proved that pandemic-era films can still be worthwhile box office pursuits, Disney most likely wants to avoid further coronavirus impacted releases. It seems that the script troubles and leadership shuffles that plagued Indiana Jones 5 have finally worked themselves out, but delaying the film to the summer of 2023 is yet another obstacle in a long line of delays that have fans wondering if they’ll ever see the film completed. By the time Indiana Jones 5 finally hits theaters (should this delay be the last) Harrison Ford will be 81 years old. With any luck, this will be the final delay. Come summer 2023, audiences will hopefully be treated to another installment of the classic franchise, and Indiana Jones 5 will prove itself worth the long wait.
