"Indiana Jones 5" is going to continue the tradition of the first four films by reuniting director Steven Spielberg with actor Harrison Ford instead of being a reboot. However, it turns out that the film is not going to have one constant collaborator working on its story and script: George Lucas.
Lucas, who is mostly known for creating the "Star Wars" franchise, has always worked with Spielberg on "Indiana Jones" ever since the first movie came out. Lucas would make the story, someone else would then write the script based on Lucas' idea and then Spielberg would direct it. This will no longer be the case for "Indiana Jones 5."
"He's not, to my knowledge," explained screenplay writer David Koepp in an interview with Collider. "I've had no contact with him," he added.
However, it was pointed out that Lucas will still serve as executive producer for the movie. This may mean he will be giving some input or financial backing to the film, but he will no longer be crafting the story, and he will not be collaborating with the screenwriters for the script.
Collider points out that many blame Lucas for the poor reception of the fourth film in the series, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," particularly because of his insistence of including aliens in the plot. It turns out that numerous writers were hired just to make a script that was satisfactory and even then the movie was poorly received.
Lucas is also blamed for the poor reception of the prequel films in the "Star Wars" franchise. Because of the negative feedback on his work, the report states that the lack of his input on the new film's story might be seen as a positive thing for fans.
Koepp did reveal they are working to fix some of the mistakes they made with previous entries and that they are aiming to begin working on the film in 2017, despite Spielberg being a very busy director.
"Indiana Jones 5" is scheduled to premiere on July 19, 2019.
