Age of The Nerd
Just a few months ago, it seemed that ‘Indiana Jones 5‘ would be Steven Spielberg‘s next movie. Back in January, it was reported that the prolific director was circling both ‘Indiana Jones 5‘ and ‘West Side Story‘ as his next duo of films. Although Spielberg has shot two movies back-to-back many times throughout his career, we quickly learned that he intended to shoot ‘Indiana Jones 5‘ before moving into production on his long-touted remake of the 1961 musical. In March, Spielberg confirmed that the film was indeed gearing up for a 2019 start date to meet it’s 2020 release date.
Now, it seems that this may not necessarily be the case as writer Jon Kasdan has been enlisted to take over writing duties on the project from David Koepp, according to Collider. Koepp–who has previously written many Spielberg projects including ‘Kingdom of the Crystal Skull‘–had reportedly submitted a draft of the screenplay that someone apparently wasn’t entirely happy with. Considering that the scribe was hired two years ago, it seems that Lucasfilm is trying to shake things up by bringing on Kasdan.
While I personally wasn’t thrilled with Kasdan’s work on the ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story‘ script, It’s good indication that Spielberg is adamant on telling the best story possible after the lackluster response to that fourth film. Although the extent of Kasdan’s work on the screenplay is still unknown, it seems that the rewrite will be significant enough to delay the production of the film. As a result, it seems that the film would indeed miss it’s scheduled July 10, 2020 release date. According to Variety, that’s exactly the case:
[quote]”Filming was supposed to begin in April of 2019 in the United Kingdom, but sources close to the production say that shooting will no longer start next spring and will have to be pushed back by months, if not a year. Potential crew members have already been informed of the delay.”[/quote]Even though Kasdan has yet to officially sign on, it seems part of the issue is that the creatives involved (presumably including a returning Harrison Ford) have yet to sign off on a draft that they all agree on. While I’m glad that the filmmakers aren’t trying to rush the project, I’m also slightly sad at the thought of having to wait even longer for this movie. Either way, Disney has yet to make an official statement on the news, but as it stands now ‘Indiana Jones 5‘ currently sits in it’s 2020 release slot with no changes having been announced as of writing this. Make sure to check back as we learn more!
