If you thought Disney was calling it quits after disappointing box office returns for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, think again! According to The DisInsider, the same site that scooped Pixar’s The Incredibles 3 months before Disney confirmed the sequel, Lucasfilm is whipping up an Indiana Jones reboot. It’s early days for the project, but according to DisInsider, fans should expect a reboot announcement of sorts at next year’s D23 Expo.
While Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny didn’t blow anyone’s hair back, Indy is a silver-screen icon of a specific breed. Indiana Jones harkens back to the real-life explorer and paleontologist Roy Chapman Andrews, a subject of classic movie serials from the 1930s and 40s. Indy is as close to a swashbuckler as Disney’s got outside of Jack Sparrow and the Pirates crew, and they’re not about to let Indy’s legacy die after a mediocre box office.
However, creating an Indiana Jones reboot will require precision on Lucasfilm’s behalf. It’s almost impossible to fill Harrison Ford’s boots, so whoever they cast to play Indy must be on point. The studio then needs to decide how far back to go. Does an Indiana Jones reboot go back to the beginning? Do we meet Indy somewhere in the middle? What kind of tone does the franchise try to evoke? Can you make a movie like Indiana Jones nowadays?
Thankfully, people still love Indiana Jones despite the Dial of Destiny disappointing some (I liked it). Last year, MachineGames released Indiana Jones and the Golden Circle, a first-person action-adventure game set between the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The game finds Indy traveling to locations like Vatican City, Thailand, Egypt, and China for one of his biggest adventures. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, released on Xbox Series X/S, PC, and PlayStation 5, holds a strong 87 score on OpenCritic, proving that Indy still has what it takes to wield the whip.
Who would you cast as Indiana Jones in a reboot? Should the studio go young or focus on the character’s middle years? Let us know in the comments section below.