Lucas Has Idea for Indiana Jones 5; Spielberg, LaBeouf, and Ford Don’t Rule it Out
Rumors began in July 2007 that Shia LaBeouf signed a contract to reprise his role of Mutt Williams, in a series of Indiana Jones sequels. MTV quickly got a denial from LucasFilm, although it turns out that IESB.net’s source probably wasn’t far off after all. It has now been revealed that George Lucas has an idea to make more Indy films with Mutt as the lead character.
“I haven’t even told Steven or Harrison this,” Lucas told Fox News. “But I have an idea to make Shia [LeBeouf] the lead character next time and have Harrison [Ford] come back like Sean Connery did in the last movie. I can see it working out.”
And I’m betting that like most Hollywood contracts, LaBeouf probably has stipulations which lock him into a sequel/spin-off if Paramount wanted to make one, despite what LucasFilm claimed last year. And LaBeouf says he would be interested.
“I don’t think a Mutt spinoff would be as big as Indiana Jones,” LaBeouf told MTV. “[But] fingers crossed!”
Harrison Ford told USA Today in April that “he also might consider a fifth installment of Indiana Jones, though he hopes it wouldn’t take 20 years to pull together.”
“And it’s not like Harrison is even old,” admits Lucas. “I mean, he’s 65 and he did everything in this movie. The old chemistry is there, and it’s not like he’s an old man. He’s incredibly agile; he looks even better than he did 20 years ago, if you ask me.”
Even director Steven Spielberg admitted a years back while developing Crystal Skull, that he wouldn’t rule out a fifth film.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Spielberg told the Chicago Sun Times. “Of course, I said the third INDY would be the last one. And obviously it’s not. So I can’t even comment whether the fourth will be the last one or not. I’m not looking to redesign the wheel. I just want to continue the saga.”
If Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull does the business that everyone is expecting, I don’t see how they couldn’t launch a sequel/spin-off. What about a storyline where Shia has to find and rescue Indiana Jones, a callback to The Last Crusade.
SAW V and VI Details Revealed
Lionsgate has revealed new details about the future of the SAW franchise. The fifth installment, follows Hoffman (Costas Mandylor), who has been carrying Jigsaw’s (Tobin Bell) legacy, goes on a man hunt after the secret is threatened.
“People escape one trap, just to get caught in another; it’s closer in feel to the original SAW as thematically it’s about teamwork. I am far and away convinced that these are the best traps we have ever had,” Producer Marc Berg told Bloody-Disgusting. “This film is far less confusing and more linear, and there are TWO great twists. Just when you thought you figured it out, we twist again.”
The film features six different traps and they shot three different endings, which will be included on the eventual DVD release. The full supporting announce was also announced, and includes: Scott Patterson, Betsy Russell, Mark Rolston, Carlo Rota, Julie Benz, Greg Bryk, Laura Gordon and Meagan Good. David Hackl directed the fifth film but will not be returning for the sixth installment after all. I wonder if the studio replaced him or if this was his own choice. SAW series editor Kevin Greutert will be making his feature directorial debut on Saw VI. Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton are back to pen the screenplay.
Also announced is a SAW video game which was written by franchise creators Leigh Whannell and James Wan, featuring all of the original cast members, and will take place in the timeline of the original film. Saw V is scheduled to hit theaters on October 24th, 2008.
sources: Bloody-disgusting, ComingSoon
Harrison Ford Considers Indiana Jones 5; New Indiana Jones 4 Photo
USA Today has published an article on Harrison Ford which features the new photo from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (as seen above). The article is pretty boring for the most part, except for the one sentence where Harrison Ford tells the newspaper that “he also might consider a fifth installment of Indiana Jones, though he hopes it wouldn’t take 20 years to pull together.” Indiana Jones 5?
Box Office: Potter adds $28.8M on Saturday, Transformers tops $200M
HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX continued its box office roll on Saturday grabbing an estimated $28.82M, putting the fifth installment of the Potter franchise past the $100M mark on just its 4th day of release. It will be tough for HP5 to reach $80M for its traditional Fri-Sun 3-day, but my revised 3-day projection is still a magical $76M, giving it a 5-day opening of $137.9M. That’s easily the biggest opening 5 days in the Potter series.
TRANSFORMERS delivered an estimated $14.95M on Saturday, as the Autobots and Decepticons charged past the $200M mark. The Michael Bay-by-way-of-Hasbro action pic is clearly attracting more families, and I’m revising my 3-day from $34M to a better-than-expected $35.5M. RATATOUILLE cooked up another $7.2M and should get to $18M for the 3-day. LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD saw a nice Saturday surge for an estimated $4.62M. Old man John McClane will climb past the $100M mark sometime on Sunday. Finally LICENSE TO WED (Warner Bros) maintains a spot in the top 5 with $2.87M, which will likely translate to a $7M weekend.
Also of note among more limited releases -
The gruesome After Dark release CAPTIVITY is an unmitigated disaster with just $489,000 at just over 1,000 locations and an expected 3-day of $1.3M. It’s still unbeliveable that an Oscar nominated director like Roland Joffe (THE KILLING FIELDS, THE MISSION) was at the helm of this sadistic venture.
YOU KILL ME starring Ben Kingsley and Tea Leoni has met with a lukewarm response to its expansion to 245 locations. The black comedy yielded just $890 per screen on Saturday and an estimated 3-day take of $539,000.
RESCUE DAWN, from director Werner Herzog and produced by NBA All-Star Elton Brand, expanded to 38 locations, and it is showing real box office potency. The Vietnam-era POW film generated $5,300 per location on Saturday, and its 3-day PTA will likely top $12,500.
The top PTA on the arthouse circuit this weekend is Patrice Leconte’s MY BEST FRIEND starring Daniel Auteuil. At just 3 locations, it delivered over $9,000 per on Saturday, and this French film has a shot at a $20,000 PTA for the weekend.
Sundance Winner JOSHUA and Warner Independent’s INTRODUCING THE DWIGHTS were far less successful adding screens. Also, Steve Buscemi’s INTERVIEW opened to lukewarm numbers at 6 locations and the long-shelved SHORTCUT TO HAPPINESS, directed by Alec Baldwin, should have stayed on the Yari Film Group shelves. This dog opened on 22 screens, none in major cities, and it will likely finish with only $25,000-$30,000 in total ticket sales.
I’ve gone online with my Saturday Estimates for the top 38 grossing films followed by my Revised 3-Day Estimates using an approximate Sunday drop. All that and more at FantasyMoguls.