'Indiana Jones 5': What Do You Think?

Harrison Ford will be back as Indiana Jones in 2019, 38 years after ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’

Walt Disney Studios announced today that there will be a fifth Indiana Jones film, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Harrison Ford as the boulder-dodging, snake-hating adventurer fans love. The new addition to the Indy franchise doesn’t have a title yet, but it does have a release date: July 19, 2019.

Ford last played the role in 2008 when he starred in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, a film that disappointed some longtime fans who had a hard time with the addition of Shia LaBeouf, and refrigerators that double as bomb shelters. The question now is whether in 2019, more than a decade after Crystal Skull and nearly 40 years after Raiders of the Lost Ark, the faithful’s goodwill can be rekindled.

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Kingdom of the Crystal Skull made more than $317 million in North America and $786.6 million worldwide, proving that in 2008, at least, audiences still had an itch to watch Ford crack that whip one more time. But according to Box Office Mojo, when ticket prices are adjusted for inflation, Crystal Skull is the lowest grossing movie in the Indy series; the original 1981 Raiders remains the franchise’s box office peak.

Initial reaction to the new Indy movie news on Twitter see-sawed from ecstatic to “Wow, they’re actually doing this after the Crystal Skull debacle?” to “Hey, let’s make jokes about how old Harrison Ford is.”

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If The Force Awakens is any indication, it’s a waste of time to fret about Ford’s age; the actor became Han Solo again at 73, pulled it off admirably, and earned a warm reaction from fans. The bigger issue is how to do anything new with the Indiana Jones character and whether he’ll still resonate with a movie ticket buying population comprised largely of people who were born long after Raiders came out. Indy is a great character, but the franchise arguably doesn’t have the same kind of generation-spanning reach that Star Wars does.

What do you think? Are you excited to see another Indiana Jones movie, or do you feel like this series is played out? Weigh in by posting a comment.

‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ flashback: Watch the teaser trailer: