A young Indiana Jones movie is allegedly in development at The Walt Disney Company and Lucasfilm according to scooper WDW Pro.
(L-R): Teddy (Ethann Isidore), Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) and Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) in Lucasfilm’s INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
In a recent video upload to his WDW Pro YouTube channel, scooper WDW Pro shared that a young Indiana Jones movie is in development at Lucasfilm.
He relayed, “I have a source who has been right in the past and tells me that it appears Lucasfilm is doing some developing, shall we say, maybe some preliminary work on what it would look like to do a young Indiana Jones movie in which Indy would be around the age of 14, would clearly not be played by Harrison Ford, and they may believe that’s young enough that it wouldn’t be a problem for the character to not be played by Harrison Ford.”
Pro then shared his own speculation, “I suspect … that what they’re looking at is what if they adapted the young Indiana Jones Chronicles, which was a television series, I believe, back in the 90s, or what if they set out on their own.”
He then added, “I’m told that this would be also something that they’re looking at for a post-Kathleen Kennedy era at Lucasfilm.”
Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Lucasfilm
The Indiana Jones franchise is coming off its worst performance at the box office with Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. The film only grossed $174.4 million domestically and another $209.4 million internationally for a global gross of $383.9 million.
For comparison, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull grossed $317.1 million domestically and another $469.5 million internationally for a global gross of $786.6 million back in 2008 without even factoring in inflation.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade grossed $197.1 million domestically and $277 million internationally for a global gross of $474.1 million in 1989. Again, those numbers do not even factor in inflation.
Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Lucasfilm
Not only is Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny the worst performing Indiana Jones film of all time at the box office, but it also lost Lucasfilm and The Walt Disney Company at least $100 million.
Caroline Reid at Forbes reported that the film “failed to cover its costs at the box office according to financial statements released on Friday which show that Disney spent $134.2m more on making the movie than it is understood to have received in ticket sales.”
However, that does not even tell the whole picture. As WDW Pro noted in March, the financial statements, which are released in the United Kingdom do not include marketing costs. Pro speculated that marketing costs for the film likely cost at least $120 million, which means the film more than likely lost at $234 million.
Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in Lucasfilm’s INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
What do you make of this rumor regarding Lucasfilm developing a young Indiana Jones film?
