While this film may be the last time we’ll see Harrison Ford don the fedora and the whip, it doesn’t mean we can’t go on one final globe-trotting adventure with the famed archeologist.
“Daredevil archaeologist Indiana Jones races against time to retrieve a legendary dial that can change the course of history. Accompanied by his goddaughter, he soon finds himself squaring off against Jürgen Voller, a former Nazi who works for NASA.”
‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ first premiered at the 76th Canne Film Festival, exactly 15 years after ‘Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ premiered at Canne. Leading man Harrison Ford also received the Palme d’Or d’honneur for lifetime achievement at the festival.
“They say when you’re about to die, you see your life flash before your eyes, and I just saw my life flash before my eyes,” Ford said as he accepted the award.
The previous installment, ‘The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,’ was not received well by the audience, earning a 53% score on Rotten Tomatoes. However, ‘The Dial of Destiny’ received an 88% score from the audience, with many comments calling out certain classic Indy moments in the film.
Using the de-aging technology, the story takes us back in time to see a younger Indy, with a great action sequence aboard a moving train with the film’s antagonist Voller (Mads Mikkelsen). It had all the classic Indiana Jones movie moments and also set up the film’s McGuffin – the Archimedes dial.
Ford has been playing the globe-trotting, Nazi-punching archeologist for over 4 decades, debuting the character in ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ in 1981. Now at 80, the actor returns to the role once again. We find Indiana Jones in a very interesting time – weighed down by his failed relationship with his wife Marion, being forced into retirement, and dealing with the loss of his son Mutt (Shia LaBeouf). This is certainly different than the Indy we know and remember, but Ford brings sincerity to the role and is ever committed to big action sequences and a high-speed car chase through the city as he and Helena go after the Dial.
The movie opened in theaters on June 30, 2023, and is available in various formats, such as Dolby Cinema, IMAX, 4DX, and ScreenX. ‘The Dial of Destiny’ still playing in theaters, so be sure to check your local listings and Moviefone below for showtimes in your area.
‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’’ has a total runtime of 2 hours and 35 minutes.
Watch the official trailer for ‘The Dial of Destiny’ below:
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Can’t make it out to the theater? Don’t worry. Since the movie is under the Walt Disney Studio banner, it will surely make its way to Disney+. Typically, Disney Studios films adopt a 45 to 90-day theatrical release window before it arrives on the streaming platform. This was the case with films such as ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ and ‘Ant-man and the Wasp: Quantumania.’ No official date has been announced for the film’s release on the streaming platform or VOD.
Iconic ‘Star Wars’ bounty hunter Boba Fett made a big return to our screens with ‘The Mandalorian’ and linked series ‘The Book of Boba Fett’. But if director James Mangold had had his way, the character would have relaunched into the pop cultural consciousness via a movie.
Except… it didn’t quite work out that way. Though it was never officially announced, reports surfaced back in 2018 about Mangold’s attachment to a movie about the character originally introduced in ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ and who had appeared to meet an ignominious end in the belly of the Sarlacc creature in ‘Return of the Jedi’.
Yet later that year, Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy said later that year that it wouldn’t come to fruition.
Two big factors contributed to the end of the Boba Fett film. First, ‘The Mandalorian’ was in development, and had its own take on the character. And, as we all know, it became a huge sensation, a jolt of nostalgia that also charted new stories and introduced the cute merchandising factory that is Baby Y… Sorry, Grogu… into the world.
Secondly, as it turns out. Mangold was going for a mature approach to the character, which is perhaps not all that shocking given his work on ‘Logan’, which did something similar with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. And that was an issue for Lucasfilm, which was looking for family friendlier offerings…
“At the point I was doing it I was probably scaring the s**t out of everyone. I was making much more of a borderline R-rated, single planet spaghetti Western. They probably would never be able to embrace Baby Yoda if I had made that. It didn’t really belong in the world I was kind of envisioning.”
And Mangold went further into the contrast between his ideas and the Lucasfilm regime’s:
“In a moment of corporate realignment or whatever happened with the Han Solo movie, they just suddenly decided they weren’t making pictures like that, and the opportunities in streaming presented themselves. I was just listening to [spaghetti Western composer] Ennio Morricone all day, all night, and typing away. I’m not sure it ever would have happened. I’m not sure it was in anyone’s plans, what I was thinking.”
(L to R) Director James Mangold, and Dave Filoni at Star Wars Celebration 2023.
No-one needs to feel bad for Mangold, though. He was instead handed the chance to direct ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ for Lucasfilm, which has just arrived in theaters.
And the company is clearly happy with what he did on that movie because Mangold will be getting a second shot at ‘Star Wars’ with a new movie set many years before the Skywalker saga that explores the early days of Force users.
“When I mentioned to [Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy] the idea that I had about going backward –– really far backward –– I was surprised that it excited her and the other wonderful people she works with at Lucasfilm. For me, it’s about, I want to be part of the saga, but I also don’t want to be holding so much lore in the air that you can hardly tell a story. And what I really wanted to do, what I told her, was just can we make a kind of the ‘Ten Commandments’ of the Force, you know? A kind of origin story of how the Force came to be known, understood, wielded, and harnessed.”
Oscar® nominee for Best Adapted Screenplay, James Mangold arrives on the red carpet of The 90th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre in Hollywood, CA on Sunday, March 4, 2018. Photo: Ross Costanza Photography.
Indiana Jones is one of the most beloved characters in cinematic history!
Ever since the character, created by George Lucas and played by Harrison Ford, was first introduction in the unforgettable opening sequence of 1981’s ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark,’ which was directed by Steven Spielberg, Indiana Jones has become a staple in pop-culture.
In honor of Indy’s new and possibly final adventure, ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,’ which was directed by James Mangold and opens in theaters on June 28th, Moviefone is ranking every Indiana Jones movie ever made, including the latest.
(L to R) Shia LaBeouf as Mutt Williams, Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones and Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood in ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.’
Set during the Cold War, the Soviets, led by sword-wielding Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett), are in search of a crystal skull which has supernatural powers related to a mystical Lost City of Gold. Indy (Harrison Ford) is coerced to head to Peru at the behest of a young man (Shia LaBeouf) whose friend, and Indy’s colleague, Professor Oxley (John Hurt) has been captured for his knowledge of the skull’s whereabouts.
Finding himself in a new era, approaching retirement, Indy (Harrison Ford) wrestles with fitting into a world that seems to have outgrown him. But as the tentacles of an all-too-familiar evil return in the form of an old rival (Mads Mikkelsen), Indy must don his hat and pick up his whip once more to make sure an ancient and powerful artifact doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.
(L to R) Kate Capshaw as Wilhelmina “Willie” Scott, Ke Huy Quan as Short Round and Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.’
After arriving in India, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is asked by a desperate village to find a mystical stone. He agrees – and stumbles upon a secret cult plotting a terrible plan in the catacombs of an ancient palace.
(L to R) Sean Connery as Henry Jones, Sr. and Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.’
In 1938, an art collector appeals to eminent archaeologist Dr. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) to embark on a search for the Holy Grail. Indy learns that a medieval historian has vanished while searching for it, and the missing man is his own father, Dr. Henry Jones Sr. (Sean Connery). He sets out to rescue his father by following clues in the old man’s notebook, which his father had mailed to him before he went missing. Indy arrives in Venice, where he enlists the help of a beautiful academic, Dr. Elsa Schneider (Alison Doody), along with Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliott) and Sallah (John Rhys-Davies). Together they must stop the Nazis from recovering the power of eternal life and taking over the world!
Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark.’
When Dr. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) – the tweed-suited professor who just happens to be a celebrated archaeologist – is hired by the government to locate the legendary Ark of the Covenant, he finds himself up against the entire Nazi regime.
What is the plot of ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’?
In 1944, American archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) helps colleague Basil Shaw (Toby Jones) against Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen), a Nazi, from obtaining a mysterious dial known as the Antikythera. Twenty-five years later, Jones is uneasy over the fact that the U.S. government has recruited former Nazis to help beat the Soviet Union in the competition to make it to space. He is about to be forced into retirement when, surprisingly, his goddaughter, Basil’s daughter Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), accompanies him on his journey for the Dial. Meanwhile, Voller, now a NASA member and ex-Nazi involved with the Apollo Moon-landing program, is also after the dial, and wishes to use it to make the world into a better place as he sees fit.
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Who is in the cast of ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny?’
‘Dial of Destiny’ is an improvement from ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,’ but still not a great ending for Indiana Jones’ story. The screenplay is confusing and convoluted, while the pacing is slow at times. Director James Mangold does an efficient job but the “Indiana Jones” magic is still missing from this installment. Harrison Ford gives a strong and emotional performance, while Phoebe Waller-Bridge breathes some fresh air into the franchise, but ultimately the film feels like an epilogue rather than a definitive final chapter.
The movie begins in 1944 at the end of World War II with an excellent sequence that takes place on a moving train. Ford is de-aged for the scenes, and while the VFX don’t entirely work, Mangold shoots the actor as sparingly as possible, as a little bit goes a long way. The sequence is classic Indiana Jones and one of the best set pieces in the film. But once the story cuts to present day, it drags to the next action sequence. Many of the characters’ motivations are unclear, as is the true power of the dial, this film’s McGuffin. And without giving away the ending, that seemed to come out of nowhere, like Indy meeting aliens in the last movie.
James Mangold is a very accomplished director, having made such films as ‘3:10 to Yuma,’ ‘Logan,’ and ‘Ford v Ferrari,’ and does a good job with the action sequences and the drama, but the pacing and the tone never seems quite right. This is the first film in the franchise not directed by Steven Spielberg, and while I certainly did not like ‘Crystal Skull,’ I have to wonder if the “magic” missing from this movie isn’t him? Mangold leans heavy on the nostalgia, which serves the film well with several cameos and callbacks. The director stages some impressive action scenes including the opening, a parade chase through the streets of New York, and a final mind-bending sequence.
Overall, the movie feels more dramatic than necessary and lacks the fun of the first three films. The 1969 setting of the movie is refreshing and contrasts Ford’s age and the flashback sequences well. Using the idea of Nazis working with NASA on the space race was a clever idea, but not really explored enough. Nor is the true power of the dial, which is problematic because they’ve been chasing after it for the entire movie and we don’t really understand what it is capable of until the end.
Harrison Ford will always be Indiana Jones! The actor returns to the role a little more gruff, but it suits the character well. Ford gives a great performance, but it is more dramatic than I expected. As an actor, Ford is excellent, but I question taking the character in this direction, as it sucks some of the fun out of the movie. Indiana lost his son Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) in Vietnam, his wife Marion (Karen Allen) has since left him, he is being forced into retirement, and he seems to have a drinking problem. It’s a different way of looking at Indy, and while it’s not my idea of a fun time, Ford brings a lot of sincere emotion to his beloved role. And it is nice to see him wear the Fedora and crack the whip one more time.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge gives a wonderful and cheeky performance as Indy’s goddaughter Helena. It’s a fun character and Waller-Bridge breathes fresh life into the film with her role. However, I do question the way the character was written, as her motivations are unclear at times and seem to change on a whim. That said, she is a good foil for Indy, and has lovely chemistry with Ford.
Several new characters are introduced, but most of them have limited roles. Toby Jones plays Helena’s father and Indy’s friend Basil Shaw. He’s only seen in flashbacks, but is good in his scenes with Ford, especially in the beginning. Antonio Banderas is introduced as an old friend of Indy’s, and while his presence was more than welcomed, we don’t spend enough time with the character to really get to know him. But the most confusing addition was Ethann Isidore as Teddy, an ally of Helena. No offense to the young actor, who was fine in the role, but the character seemed unnecessary and his relationship to Helena was vague and never really explained.
Again, in a far too limited role, John Rhys-Davies returns as Sallah, who first appeared in ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ and last in ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.’ He has only a few scenes but they are all with Ford, and it’s great seeing the two together again. Davies also has one of the best lines in the movie, but I wish the character could have been more involved with Indy’s journey.
Is Marion Ravenwood in Dial of Destiny?
Yes. Karen Allen returns as Marion Ravenwood, but like Davies, she really only has a cameo. However, the character plays a pivotal role in the film and is the reason for most of Indy’s actions and motivations.
Mads Mikkelsen plays a strong Indiana Jones villain with his performance as Nazi turned NASA scientist Jurgen Voller. The actor plays the role surprisingly differently than you might expect, and is a worthy adversary for our hero. While the actor never hides the characters motivations or true intentions, the story fails him at times when it becomes too convoluted. Voller’s role with the CIA is also confusing, working with agent Mason (Shaunette Renee Wilson), who seems unclear on why she’s helping him. And Boyd Holbrook basically plays the same role he did in Mangold’s ‘Logan,’ as Voller’s lead henchman.
Without giving away the end of the movie, we eventually learn that the Dial’s power has to do with time. This leads to an absolutely preposterous ending, that again, I won’t spoil. But it feels like something someone would write in fan-fiction and not a proper ending to Indiana Jones’ journey. In fact, the ending is so ridiculous its laughable and took me out of the film completely. That being said, it’s not as bad as Indy meeting aliens, but I do wonder if the franchise wouldn’t have been better off ending with ‘The Last Crusade,’ which was pretty much a perfect movie and the best in the franchise next to ‘Raiders.’ Still, it is fun seeing Ford as Indy one more time, and I do appreciate his thoughtful and emotional performance.
In the end, ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ just didn’t work for me. Mangold fills the movie with great action, and lots of nostalgia and dramatic emotion, but the story is all over the place, along with the tone and pacing. The returning characters that you want to see more of are limited, and too much time is spent on ancillary characters. Both Waller-Bridge and Mikkelsen give fresh and fun performances, but just like Indy, Harrison Ford swoops in and saves the movie. If for nothing else, the film is worth seeing just to get a glimpse of Ford as his signature character one more time.
‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ receives 6.5 out of 10 stars
The ongoing writers’ strike (and potential action from other guilds such as the actors’ union) is having a major impact on studio output. And Disney is not immune to changes in schedule. The company has announced that it is moving the release dates for a lot of its big upcoming movies, and that means we’ll all have to be patient when it comes to the likes of Marvel, James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ and the ‘Star Wars’ galaxy.
Marvel, of course, has been delaying some of its films’ production and that is having a domino effect for the highly connected cinematic universe, which relies on films to set up the next entries. Lest the tapestry all unravel, that means moving some movies back.
And because there is only so much space on the calendar (and Disney seemingly already takes up a third of it), that means the next giant, phase-ending team-up movies are also on the move. ‘Avengers: The Kang Dynasty’ will be bumped back a year, to May 1st, 2026, inheriting the release date for follow-up ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’, which itself is headed to May 7th, 2027.
It’s not all delays for the MCU, though; ‘Deadpool 3’, which is in production, will move up from its original November 8th, 2024, date to May 3rd of that year.
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More ‘Avatar’ delays
‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ will be available exclusively to purchase on Digital March 28th.
Though James Cameron’s movies would seemingly not be impacted by a writers’ strike since their scripts are essentially finished, the series can’t avoid the release date shuffle.
That means ‘Avatar’ fans, already well used to the waiting game, will see their patience tested further, since ‘Avatar 3’ has moved to December 19th, 2025, ‘Avatar 4’ to December 21st, 2029, and ‘Avatar 5’ all the way to December 19th, 2031! which means the apparent final movie will land 22 years after the original 2009 film.
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New ‘Star Wars’ movie dates
(L to R) Director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Daisy Ridley at Star Wars Celebration 2023.
If you were starting to wonder when we might ever see a new ‘Star Wars’ movie, then there’s good news.
2026 will see two movies set in that galaxy far, far away from Lucasfilm, one on May 22nd, 2026 (not the fourth?) and another set for the more traditional recent slot of December 18th that year.
A third film is reportedly headed our way on December 17th, 2027. Disney has yet to clarify any details of which of its in-development movies are taking those berths, but we can assume one is the Rey follow-up starring Daisy Ridley which has Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy in the director’s chair and was confirmed at Star Wars Celebration. On the basis of that, we can also predict that Dave Filoni’s film and possibly James Mangold‘s movie might be in the other two slots.
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Live-Action ‘Moana’ and more
Dwayne Johnson announces live-action ‘Moana.’ Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios.
There are also dates on the calendar now for films that didn’t have them previously –– the live-action ‘Moana’ is set to surface on June 27th, 2025, while Fede Álvarez’ movie set in the ‘Alien’ universe is arriving on August 16th next year. Espionage thriller ‘The Amateur’, starring Rami Malek, is set for November next year.
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Frustration ahead for film fans, then, but hopefully the movies will be worth the wait.
(L to R) Director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Daisy Ridley at Star Wars Celebration 2023.
Star Wars Celebration is happening now at the Excel Center in London, so of course the announcements are coming thick and fast about that galaxy far, far away.
Yet, following a fallow period after ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ that featured any number of big, exciting promises but nothing in the way of actual movies, it’s hard not to view the news with a slightly cynical eye –– how many times have must we be told about something Rian Johnson is cooking up, or Taika Waititi’s planned film –– before we start to cross our arms as a fandom and say, “we’ll believe it when we see it!”
Our patience (young Padawans) might yet be rewarded, as Kathleen Kennedy and the Lucasfilm team took to the stage to confirm a new trio of films that hopefully have a lot more chance of coming to fruition (though, of course, we all said that about Patty Jenkins’ ‘Rogue Squadron’, still yet to leave the development hangar and waiting for a slot on the roster.)
So what did get announced today?
(L to R) Director James Mangold, Dave Filoni, and director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy at Star Wars Celebration 2023.
What is Dave Filoni working on?
Dave Filoni, of course, is one of the masterminds (alongside Jon Favreau) of the current run of small screen ‘Star Wars’ that has helped to keep the flame alive for fans including ‘The Mandalorian’ and ‘The Book of Boba Fett’ and the upcoming likes of ‘Ahsoka’ and ‘Skeleton Crew’.
But Filoni, whose province has been on the small screen for years now, is being rewarded with a shot at the big one.
He will direct a big-screen adventure tying in to ‘The Mandalorian’, a “cinematic event” that tells a vital part of the “escalating war between the Imperial remnant and the New Republic.” It’ll continue to flesh out the time between ‘Return of the Jedi’ and ‘The Force Awakens’ –– though it’s currently unknown whether it’ll mark a final chapter in the wider ‘Mando-verse’ story, or whether Filoni and Jon Favreau’s epic yarn will continue beyond the big-screen tale.
Also unknown at this point? The title or any specific details on which characters might appear. But we’d put serious credits on a certain green, big eared charmer showing up in some capacity.
(L to R) Dave Filoni, Daisy Ridley and director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy at Star Wars Celebration 2023.
This one sounds most likely to thrill fans of the ongoing Skywalker storyline, since it’ll see the return of a big part of the sequel trilogy.
The will take place at the furthest end of the ‘Star Wars’ timeline, moving 15 years beyond ‘The Rise of Skywalker’. Her film, set in an era described as the New Jedi Order, will be all about establishing a bountiful new age of Force-users in the wake of the Skywalker Saga. And the Jedi building that future? None other than Rey herself, with Daisy Ridley confirmed to return in the role she originated. “My heart is pounding,” Ridley stated as she took to the Celebration stage, to huge cheers from the audience.
(L to R) Director James Mangold, and Dave Filoni at Star Wars Celebration 2023.
James Mangold to direct a Star Wars Movie
Finally, there is news of a third movie to be directed by another filmmaker drafted in from a different corner of the Lucasfilm empire.
For his film, he’s going right back to the beginning –– exploring “the first Jedi to wield the Force” as he explained on stage. It goes back to the earliest part of the newly-updated set of Star Wars eras, the Dawn Of The Jedi.
“It takes place 25,000 years before Episode IV, and it’s about the discovery of the Force,” he explains. His influences extend to historical theological epics. “I told Kathy [Kennedy] I wanted to make a kind of Bible movie, a kind of ‘Ten Commandments‘ of ‘Star Wars’ –– kind of a Cecil B. DeMille film about the arrival of the Force, and that’s what I’ve been pecking away at between press events. That’s the idea.”
None of the movies have a release date or name announced yet, though with Disney/Lucasfilm targeting a December 2025 slot for a new ‘Star Wars’ movie, there’s a chance one of them could fill it. And at least it sounds like they have a plan –– now we wait and see if it works out.
(L to R) Director James Mangold, Mads Mikkelsen, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge from ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ at Star Wars Celebration 2023.
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A new Indiana Jones trailer
Talking of Mangold, Team Lucasfilm also revealed the latest look at ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’, the fifth and likely final outing for Harrison Ford’s artifact-hunting adventurer.
With the story (aside from a prologue set in the 1940s at the peak of Indy’s adventures and featuring some impressively de-aged shots of Ford) now taking place in the late 1960s, an older and wiser––debatably––Dr. Jones is more content to lecture than to put his life at risk to find some mythical treasure. It’s not the years, as he once reminded us, it’s the mileage.
But when he’s contacted by his goddaughter Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), he realizes that he can’t escape his past entirely. The title gadget is being sought by a Nazi sleeper cell (including Mads Mikkelsen’s Voller) who plan to use it to correct Hitler’s “mistakes” and see the Reich restored.
They discovered it, Jones took it from them way back when and now –– as this new footage reveals –– Helena takes it from him, since she’s found a bidder willing to pay richly for it. Cue another adventure for our hero.
The new trailer, which stylishly blends the Rolling Stones’ ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ with the classic Indy theme is sure to get fans excited.
Following a premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, the next Indy movie is due in theaters on June 30th.
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President of Lucasfilm Kathleen Kennedy at Star Wars Celebration 2023.
Just yesterday, DC Studios Co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran made the first of what will likely be several big announcements about the future of DC movies, TV series and video games, which they’re aiming to link together in one unified universe (excepting the likes of ‘The Batman’ and ‘Joker’, which will exist as ‘Elseworlds’ titles).
While Gunn didn’t go into many details about other filmmakers who will be involved in crafting the movies and series in his actual announcement, he did drop a few names. “Tom King has been my partner throughout all of this. He was giving me answers to shit before I took the job,” said Gunn in a presentation. “So me, him, Christal Henry who worked on ‘Watchmen’ and is doing ‘Waller,’ Christina Hodson who wrote ‘The Flash,’ Drew Goddard, and Jeremy Slater, who just did ‘Moon Knight.’ That group of people we’ve been meeting with and, you know, putting all of this together.”
One name he didn’t drop was James Mangold, but the director dropped a teasing hint about his potential collaboration by posting a ‘Swamp Thing’ image on social media.
That immediately sparked speculation that he might be involved in the movie, which was one that Gunn mentioned in his announcement. And now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, he’s in early talks to write and direct the ‘Swamp Thing’ film but wasn’t brought up because the deal isn’t done yet.
“This is a film that will investigate the dark origins of Swamp Thing,” Safran said on the DC blog the day of the announcement. It’s intended as a horror movie, but Swamp Thing will end up interacting with other characters down the line.
As a character, Swamp Thing was created by writer Len Wein and horror artist Bernie Wrightson, first appearing in a stand-alone story in 1971’s ‘House of Secrets # 92.’ The character proved popular enough that he got his own book soon after, although it was short-lived. Swampy achieved his peak in the 1980s during a seminal run written by Alan Moore and drawn by John Totleben and Stephen R. Bissette and has since gone on to become a key figure in the darker side of DC, spurring the creation of the Vertigo imprint.
‘Swamp Thing’ first appeared on screens in 1982 in a movie directed by Wes Craven, while ‘The Return of Swamp Thing’ landed in theaters in 1989. There was a live-action TV series that ran for three seasons in the 1990s, an animated series and a short-lived live-action show on the equally short-lived DC Universe platform.
Mangold, meanwhile, has form with comic book based movies with ‘The Wolverine’ and the acclaimed ‘Logan’. Next up for him is ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’, headed to theaters on June 30th this year. And after that’s complete, he still intends to make a film about Bob Dylan’s early life starring Timothée Chalamet.
Oscar® nominee for Best Adapted Screenplay, James Mangold arrives on the red carpet of The 90th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre in Hollywood, CA on Sunday, March 4, 2018. Photo: Ross Costanza Photography.
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Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark.’
Though the next Indiana Jones movie will find the adventurous archaeologist back in action while pondering his own mortality in the late 1960s, director James Mangold is also promising a thrilling throwback to the days of ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ and Indy in his prime.
Talking to Empire for the magazine’s latest issue, Mangold revealed that the new movie (whose title has yet to be revealed) will open with a set piece that dials the clock back to 1944, set in a castle swarming with Nazis. And, as we all know, Indy hates those guys.
“I wanted the chance to dive into this kind of full-on George-and-Steven old picture and give the audience an adrenaline blast,” Mangold says. “And then we fall out, and you find yourself in 1969. So that the audience doesn’t experience the change between the ‘40s and ‘60s as an intellectual conceit, but literally experiences the buccaneering spirit of those early days… and then the beginning of now.”
Using a combination of techniques, including some fancy new ILM software that pulls imagery from archived material of star Harrison Ford, the effects team took years off of the actor, while stunt and photo doubles were also utilized. For the man himself, the results were impressive.
“This is the first time I’ve seen it where I believe it,” Ford says. “It’s a little spooky. I don’t think I even want to know how it works, but it works. Doesn’t make me want to be young, though. I’m glad to have earned my age.”
But in case you were thinking the nefarious Nazis are confined to the 1940s… think again. Their threat has remained through the next couple of decades, and Indy encounters them once again in 1969. And the biggest menace comes from a man named Voller, played by Mads Mikkelsen. Loosely inspired by former Nazi rocket scientist-turned-NASA icon Wernher von Braun, he’ll be causing trouble particularly during the Apollo 11 ticker tape parade in New York.
Mads Mikkelsen as Voller in Lucsafilm’s ‘Untitled fifth Indiana Jones film.’ Photo courtesy of Empire Magazine.
“He’s a man who would like to correct some of the mistakes of the past,” Mikkelsen tells Empire of Voller. “There is something that could make the world a much better place to live in. He would love to get his hands on it. Indiana Jones wants to get his hands on it as well. And so, we have a story.”
Also on the side of the villains? Boyd Holbrook, who plays Klaber, Voller’s henchman. Because what is a James Mangold genre movie without Holbrook as a villain after ‘Logan’s Pierce?
Finally on the side of the goodies – or possibly her own side – we have Phoebe Waller-Bridge as Indy’s Goddaughter Helena. Helena Brody, in fact (as in Denholm Elliott’s Brody from the original movie). And she’s described as a “grifter” by Mangold.
For Waller-Bridge, who had worked with Lucasfilm on ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’, she came on board after a request from producer Kathleen Kennedy. “Kathy was in London and asked to have dinner with me, and casually mentioned this,” recalls the actor. “I immediately ordered ten bottles of wine. Then it was the fastest I’ve ever read a script; I came out of a sort of haze afterwards. I just couldn’t believe how much fun I had and how moved I was by it. And then I had a Zoom and screamed, ‘YES!’ at them all.”
(L to R) Phoebe Waller-Bridge as Helena, and Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in Lucasfilm’s ‘Untitled fifth Indiana Jones film.’ Photo courtesy of Empire Magazine.
The next Indiana Jones movie will be in theaters from June 30th, 2023.
Today, though (at least outside of set pics), we have our first proper look at Dr. Jones in person, via an exclusive carried by Empire magazine.
It’s been a long journey for the latest Indy movie, which has been in the works for quite some time. Through different versions and script drafts, it has evolved into an adventure that is mostly a secret for now, but it does seem to feature Indy in the 1960s.
Most notably, it’ll be the first without Steven Spielberg as director, ‘Logan’s James Mangold instead filling the big chair, and working on a script that has also seen work from Jez and John-Henry Butterworth.
And Ford, who has said that this will represent his final time playing the character, seems to be happy with the result.
Harrison Ford stars as Indiana Jones in the next ‘Indiana Jones’ movie, which will be in theaters on June 30th, 2023. Photo courtesy of Disney and Empire Magazine.
“It’s full of adventure, full of laughs, full of real emotion. And it’s complex and it’s sneaky,” Ford tells Empire, even if he admits that it was a big challenge. “The shooting of it was tough and long and arduous,” he says. “But I’m very happy with the film that we have.”
And more importantly, since he was ready to step away, the 80-year-old actor knew he wanted a sense of finality to this new outing. “I just thought it would be nice to see one where Indiana Jones was at the end of his journey,” Ford explains. “If a script came along that I felt gave me a way to extend the character.”
For Mangold, that was also the aim, while still staying true to what audiences have loved about these movies for decades. “It became really important to me to figure out how to make this a movie about a hero at sunset,” he says. “The issues I brought up about Indy’s age were not things I thought were being addressed in the material being developed at the time. There were ‘old’ jokes, but the material itself wasn’t about it. To me, whatever you greatest liability, you should fly straight towards that. If you try to pretend it’s not there, you end up getting slings and arrows the whole way.”
Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark.’
Disney+ has been a place for the company to extend the already wide-reaching tentacles of the various franchises under its umbrella.
We’ve had a bevy of ‘Star Wars’ shows (which continues with the likes of ‘The Acolyte’, now in production under the leadership of Leslye Headland), a raft of Marvel TV series introducing new characters to the MCU or continuing the adventures of some such as Hawkeye and all sorts of other offerings for family audiences from Pixar, Disney Animation and others.
One notable exception – at least so far – has been Lucasfilm’s ‘Indiana Jones’, which in recent years, been confined to the big screen.
That, it would appear, is set to change. According to Variety, Disney and Lucasfilm are in the very early stages of exploring a new series set in the world of Dr. Jones, though given that they are only now meeting with writers to explore concepts, nothing is known about what this could be.
Given how much use Disney tends to get out of its various titles, it’s not out of the question that other writers and directors could re-cast Indy, even though that would meet with plenty of online backlash – as with the rumors that Chris Pratt could be taking over the role. He’s since said he won’t do it.
Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark.’
It would seem nigh-on impossible for any series to be built around Harrison Ford as Indy, since the actor has firmly stated that he’s done slapping on the famous fedora and handling the whip. So, we are once again facing the possibility that someone else will play Indiana Jones.
It has happened in the past on TV – ‘The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles’, which ran for two seasons between 1992 and 1993 saw Sean Patrick Flanery playing, as the title suggests, a young Indy. The shows were retooled into TV movies later.
But the history of the franchise stretches back to the late 1970s, when George Lucas and Steven Spielberg hatched an idea for a movie about an adventurer inspired by the radio and movie series they loved when younger.
The ongoing writers’ strike (and potential action from other guilds such as the actors’ union) is having a major impact on studio output. And 
