MOVIE NEWS – The director of Indiana Jones 5 – or The Dial of Destiny – explained why audiences would not have been satisfied with the disappointing sequel…

The Indiana Jones franchise returned in 2023 with one last hurrah. However, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny brought Harrison Ford back to the role of the adventurous archaeologist on a final mission to find an impossible artifact and summon unfathomable powers. Despite the best efforts of everyone involved, the film failed to make a dent at the box office, and it was a disappointment for most critics.

Director James Mangold felt that the reaction to the film was unfair, and he continues to believe that audiences simply did not appreciate the story it told and had different expectations for the franchise. He recently told Deadline:

“You have a wonderful, brilliant actor who’s in his eighties. So I’m making a movie about this guy in his eighties, but his audience on one other level doesn’t want to confront their hero at that age. And I am like, I’m good with it. We made the movie. But the question is, how would anything have made the audience happy with that, other than having to start over again with a new guy?”

Mangold had his reasons for being extremely happy. He is the only director besides Steven Spielberg to have touched on Indy’s adventures – good company, by the way. He also noted that he was hurt in a way by the way the audience reacted to the film, as it is a character and a story he grew up admiring. He added:

“And then here come lifelong heroes from my childhood into my life going, ‘We have something for you to work on.’ It was a joyous experience, but it hurt in the sense that I really love Harrison and I wanted audiences to love him as he was and to accept that that’s part of what the movie has to say—that things come to an end, that’s part of life.”

Indiana Jones hangs up his Fedora… at least on the big screen

All good things come to an end, and that’s the case with many franchises and iconic characters that started in the 1970s and ’80s. True, some of them—see Top Gun: Maverick, for example—have found success with belated sequels. But when an actor who originally played a role as a fit young man turns into an octogenarian, it becomes increasingly unlikely that he’ll continue in an action movie role indefinitely.

In The Dial of Destiny, Mangold did one thing right: he didn’t try to tell an Indy story that would take place around the same time as The Last Crusade or even Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Instead, the plot—except for the opening scene—is set in the late 1960s, bringing the character closer to Ford’s age. While that may have been a turn-off for some fans, there’s some truth to what Mangold is saying. Many of us simply don’t want to think about our action-hero idol getting older.

For those who still want a younger Indy in their lives but don’t want another actor in the role, the new Indiana Jones and the Great Circle video game might be just what they’re looking for. Set in 1937, the game offers a brand-new adventure worthy of the best of the original trilogy, featuring Ford’s younger Indy. Although Indy’s adventures on the big screen are clearly over for now, we can explore other paths in the future…

Source: Deadline