Harrison Ford says Indiana Jones 5 must match the quality of Marvel movies in order to be successful. Since kicking off with the original Iron Man film in 2008, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has evolved from its humble beginnings to become the premier franchise in the industry. Not only is Marvel renowned for their box office prowess (Avengers: Endgame is the highest grossing film of all-time), the studio is famous for consistently delivering entertaining blockbusters that resonate with critics and audiences. None of the 24 movies release to date are rotten on Rotten Tomatoes, and 22 of them are Certified Fresh.
In the wake of the MCU’s overwhelming success, several other studios attempted to develop their own shared universes, but none of them came close to replicating Marvel’s results. Even WB’s DC Extended Universe and Lucasfilm’s master plan for annual Star Wars tentpoles faltered shortly after they started, forcing the studios to re-evaluate their strategies moving forward. Though Marvel remains king of the shared universe, other contemporary blockbusters are still looking to emulate them - just in the sense of being an exciting, fresh adventure.
Speaking with HeyUGuys while promoting his new film The Call of the Wild (which opened last week), Ford addressed the status of Indiana Jones 5. The movie, which was at one point scheduled to debut in 2019, has been delayed multiple times and gone through several rewrites. According to Ford, that’s all so Steven Spielberg and company can make the best film possible, offering up surprises for the audience:
Marvel’s earned criticism from some circles for their well-established formula, but there’s little arguing with the results and it’s easy to forget the MCU was at one point seen as an overly-ambitious experiment with little chance of working. Kevin Feige and his team definitely gave audiences something they couldn’t anticipate (an interconnected long-form cinematic story that spanned more than a decade) and it’s still going strong. Obviously, Indiana Jones 5 isn’t going to launch a massive shared universe (though, there is the potential for future movies), so Ford is most likely referencing the spirit of Marvel and what they’ve been able to accomplish over the years. He doesn’t want Indiana Jones 5 to be just another Indiana Jones film; he wants to enthrall audiences with something that offers up some surprises while also being the crowd-pleasing tentpole viewers know Indiana Jones to be.
“I don’t really want to give them what they want to see, I want to give them something they didn’t anticipate. They are used to a degree of disappointment when you revisit. Certainly, the Marvel movies have made a spectacular example of a success of worked the other way around, they killed it! Well, we’re not going to make another Indiana Jones unless we are in a position to kill it. We want it to be the best. We’ve got some scheduling issues and a few script things to do but we are determined to get it right before we get it made.”
Ford’s commitment to “get it right” is understandable, considering the mixed reactions Kingdom of the Crystal Skull received. Spielberg is well aware some fans were disappointed by that film, and his goal is to avoid repeating the same mistake. Since this will in all likelihood be Ford’s swan song as the famed archeologist (he’ll be 79 when Indiana Jones 5 hits theaters), everyone involved wants to make sure it sends the character off on a high note. It’ll be a challenge topping the note-perfect ending of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (which saw Indy literally ride off into the sunset), but hopefully Spielberg can come up with something special so Indiana Jones 5 is a worthy chapter in this great franchise.
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Source: HeyUGuys
- Indiana Jones 5 Release Date: 2023-06-30
