Indiana Jones returns to theaters in 2020

It has been just about a week since director Steven Spielberg (“The Post”, “Ready Player One”) has announced that he will be shooting a new Indiana Jones film and already the internet has lost its mind.

In an article written by Dave McNary appearing in Variety, it says that Spielberg made the announcement at the Rakuten TV Empire Awards, which was held at the Roundhouse in London. McNary’s article also included a direct quote from the director himself talking about the upcoming project.

“It’s always worth the trip when I get to work with this deep bench of talent coming out of the UK. The actors, and the crew, the chippies, the sparks, the drivers — everybody who has helped me make my movies here, and will continue helping me make my movies here when I come back in April 2019 to make the fifth Indiana Jones movie right here.”

Really quick note here, “chippies” is a British slang word for carpenters. Who knew?

Disney had announced back in 2016 that Spielberg was slated to return for the fifth installment of the franchise, with David Koepp (“Jurassic Park,” “Spider-Man”) writing. Koep has experience with the character having written the fourth installment, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”

The only other piece of information that we are sure about at this point is that Harrison Ford (“Star Wars,” ”Blade Runner) will return as Dr. Henry Walton “Indiana” Jones Jr., professor of archeology and sever sufferer of ophidiophobia.

The first film in the Indiana Jones franchise, “Raiders of the Lost Ark” came out in 1981 to critical acclaim. That year at the Academy Awards the film took home, Best Art Direction, Best Sound, Best Film Editing, Best Visual Effects and was awarded the Special Achievement Award for Sound Effects Editing. The film was also nominated in four other categories that year, one of them being Best Original Score.

I can not imagine how any of the original three films in the franchise did not win for the best original score, despite being nominated. Composer John Williams (“Jaws,” ”Superman”) has written some of the most recognizable tunes in the movie game. In addition to the fore mentioned movies, Williams has also written and composed music for the original Star Wars trilogy, the first three Harry Potter movies and the first two Jurassic Parks. If you want to listen to the classic theme it is called “Raiders March” and is available on iTunes.

The second movie to come in the “Indy” franchise is “Temple of Doom” Though the movie premiered later chronologically, the story takes place before the original movie. This is now called a “prequel” but in 1984 this wasn’t as a fashionable move as it is now. In fact I would place a bet that the idea for doing a prequels was born from this franchise after the film’s success. Though not as big as the first movie, “Temple of Doom” did alright at the box office and warranted a third film.

“The Last Crusade” was released on May 24, 1989 and returned Indy to the glory it had seen eight years ago/ “Temple of Doom” was seen as a little too dark and violent compared to the first film. “The Last Crusade” toned down both elements and returned to the more fun loving action/adventure film tone the first one pulled off so perfectly. This film also added the amazing Sean Connery (“Hunt for Red October”,”The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen”) to play Dr. Henry Jones Sr. Ford and Connery play a great duo, and this is my personal favorite in the series, and I really wished they would have just left it there.

Nineteen years after what some would call the perfect trilogy, the studio got the ever so original idea of rebooting a franchise. “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” hit theaters in 2008 to some pretty mixed feeling. Critically, the movie did well, and in terms of box office results, the movie performed well, but die hard Indy fans were pretty upset. The whole tone had kind of changed and it seemed they wanted to turn the classic character into a new modern kind of bad—. Indiana Jones, to me, has always been more brain than brawn, but could throw some fists if the occasion called for it.     

Currently the fifth installment for the franchise is slated to hit theaters on July 10th, 2020. Currently the internet movie database (IMDb) has no plot synopsis but that hasn’t stopped us, the collective nerd of the world, from thinking about what it is going to be about. Once again we are sure we will see Indiana Jones getting into another swashbuckling adventure while stopping Nazi’s from doing something evil to the Earth.

After “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” I am a bit hesitant for the release of this film. I loved what is not called “the originals” and crystal skull was just weak sauce. It was transparent in its act to tr to bring Indy into the modern movie making experience, but that’s not what we need from this character. In my opinion they should keep with the old school heroics and action packed adventure the first film delivered so well.