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c0lo [soylentnews.org] writes:

Gizdomo [gizmodo.com] and others [google.com] announce Disney is going to squeeze some more juice from the (73yo) Harrison Ford - and your pocket - with a reboot of the Indiana Jones franchise (acquired together with the Lucas studio):

Spielberg will direct, Ford will star, Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy^[1] will produce. The official press release from Disney has no mention of co-creator George Lucas, who sold Disney rights to the character in 2012 along with Star Wars.

For the past several years, Spielberg and Ford have reiterated they wanted to come back to the series. There had also been lots of talk about a possible recasting. Whether or not this fifth film will set the table for that, we don’t know, but the Indy of old will be back at least one more. And we’re excited to have him.

Just cross your fingers for no flying monkeys.

tenplay.com.au with a just a bit of more gossipy details on George Lucas' reaction [tenplay.com.au]:

No plot details for the next instalment have been released, and there has been no mention of Mr Lucas being involved in the project.

Though, he was spotted enjoying food-court noodles in Adelaide this afternoon as fans absorbed the announcement of a fifth film.

His wife, Mellody Hobson, was the key speaker at today’s Conference of Major Super Funds in the city.

Mr Lucas voiced his unhappiness with last year’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the third highest-grossing film worldwide of all time, when he was not consulted during the project after selling the film rights to Disney.
...
The Indiana Jones franchise has grossed nearly US $2 billion at the global box office with the previous four films and amassed a global fan base.

The announcement quickly became a top ten trending topic on Twitter, but reaction was mixed. Many made fun of Ford's age, offering tongue-in-cheek suggestions for the film's title, such as "Indiana Jones and 'Hey You Kids, Get Off My Lawn!"

[1] Frank Marshall [wikipedia.org] and Kathleen Kennedy [wikipedia.org] produced all the other 4 movies of the franchise. Spielberg and the two are also involved in Amblin Entertainment, another movie production company [wikipedia.org].

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