2019 would’ve been the year that Disney franchise staple Indiana Jones returned to theaters per the stifled development of a fifth entry into the franchise. A 2022 date is likely inbound following an exclusive at Variety back in February, pre-empting at what now confirms James Mangold as the director of the new installment. Producer Frank Marshall offered the following to Collider via IGN:
“I think [James Mangold] also has a relationship with Harrison [Ford]. It was all of the right pieces coming together, at the right time,” the famed producer explained, adding that, “Steven [Spielberg] is staying on as a producer, so we’ve got the best of everything.”
Ford has headlined the franchise as the titular famed archaeologist and explorer since 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, inducted as one of AFI’s 100 Greatest American Films of All Time. With Spielberg at the helm for follow-ups in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), the franchise has earned nearly $2 billion at the global box office.
James Mangold’s credits include hits like Cop Land (1997) and 3:10 To Yuma (2007), and Marvel/20th Century Fox incarnations, Hugh Jackman starrers The Wolverine, and Logan, the latter which earned box office and multi-award winning acclaim in 2017. The Ford v. Ferrari director is also attached to helm Don Winslow novel adaptation, The Force, for newly rebranded 20th Century Studios.