Even though fans have yet to see a trailer for Harrison Ford's Indiana Jones 5 and the film has yet to receive an official title as of right now, clearly, Lucasfilm did not think it was too early to give the masses a little tease of what's to come for the iconic archeologist's next adventure.
During Star Wars Celebration, Lucasfilm released a photo of Ford donning the classic Indiana Jones attire and walking on a bridge in what looks like another quest to find an ancient item. It appears this quest will take place underground judging by the light coming in from above and from Indiana Jones' use of a flashlight in the picture.
"I’m really proud of the movie that we made. So I’ll be seeing you around campus…," Ford said during his appearance on stage. Since the film won't be released in over a year from now, not a lot of details are known as of right now. What is known, besides the obvious return of Ford as Jones, is that James Mangold will be directing this upcoming installment of the franchise, replacing Steven Speilberg. Joining Ford and Mangold will be Antonio Banderas, Boyd Holbrook, Mads Mikkelsen, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Shaunette Renee Wilson, and Mark Kileen among others. As of now, it appears no one outside of Ford from the franchise's previous installment, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, will be tagging along for the next one.
The real attention grabber is having Mangold on the director's chair to replace the legendary Spielberg. By the time Indiana Jones 5 comes out, Mangold will have been six years removed from the release of Logan, which was a superhero movie that portrayed the tale of an old and worn-down Wolverine just trying to survive in the age of mutant-kind's extinction. Mangold captured Logan's struggle as someone who tries and fails to do the right thing as a hero so well that, on paper, he's perfect for this. Maybe he can do something like this for such a revered character like Indiana Jones much as he did for the Wolverine.
Because this will be the first installment in the Indiana Jones franchise in 15 years, the one thing the studio has going for it is that the fans have simmered down since their negative reaction to Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. At the same time, they haven't forgotten how disappointing that movie was. For this next installment to work, they have to rely on what made the original trilogy so entertaining for viewers as well as keep the material fresh. Audiences felt the last one suffered from going way off the rails by introducing aliens into the story.
Again, Mangold has pulled off the old and worn-down hero in the past. Perhaps he can explore how all that Jones has gone through as both an archeologist and an explorer has finally caught up with him. Maybe much like the Wolverine, his sense of adventure is no longer there because of failures that happened off-screen. Indiana Jones 5 could be about him being reminded of why he got into the field of archeology in the first place. Whatever the case is, viewers better believe that Mangold has a vision of where to take Indiana Jones.
Indiana Jones 5 will be released in theaters on June 30, 2023
Source: Indiana Jones/Twitter