Fans will have to wait a little longer for the return of Indiana Jones.
The production of the fifth installment of the film franchise, which is set to be directed by Steven Spielberg and see the return of star Harrison Ford, is being delayed as the movie continues to be developed, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
Jonathan Kasdan, the son of Raiders of the Lost Ark scripter Lawrence Kasdan, is being brought on to write a new draft of the feature. A previous version was written by David Koepp, who is no longer available to work on the film because he is focused on directing his Blumhouse feature You Should Have Left.
When Indiana Jones 5 was first announced by Disney and Lucasfilm in March 2016, it was given a release date of July 19, 2019, but last year, it was pushed back to a July 10, 2020, release date. Now, as Kasdan works on his version of the script, the movie will miss the 2020 date. Disney has yet to officially pull the film from its calendar or assign a new release date.
Spielberg is also working under the constraints of a busy schedule. He is currently in preproduction on West Side Story, which held open casting calls for its leads back in April. And since the announcement of the fifth Indiana Jones movie, the director has signed on to develop a feature adaptation of World War II comic book Blackhawk for Warner Bros. and DC Comics with an eye to helm.
