Though it grossed more than $786 million worldwide, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is better remembered for “nuking the fridge” and inspiring a crudely irreverent South Park episode that depicted Steven Spielberg and George Lucas treating Indiana Jones like Jodie Foster in The Accused. So consider me less than giddy now that Shia LaBeouf has told the BBC that Spielberg had “cracked the story” for a fifth Indiana Jones adventure and that they would soon be “gearing that up.” Lucas is already on the record contemplating a fifth film that would “make Shia the lead character…and have Harrison Ford come back like Sean Connery did in [The Last Crusade].” Cripes! But a fifth film is going to happen whether we like it or not, so let’s make the best of it by offering a few suggestions:
1) Bring back the Nazis: They’re Indy’s Lex Luthor. Communists, even seductive Pinkos with leather fetishes, simply don’t compare. 2) Call Lawrence Kasdan and Frank Darabont: Kasdan penned the original Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Darabont’s discarded script for the fourth film sounded a heck of a lot more promising than the ultimate plotline about...aliens. 3) Send Marion packing: No one was more thrilled for the Indiana-Marion reunion, but whatever chemistry they had in Nepal is long gone. Their slapstick scenes together in Crystal Skull set the wrong tone for the entire film. 4) I know it’s not going to happen (yet), but…Reboot. No Shia. No Harrison. Handpick a dashing young Indy, and show me his first adult adventure, his initial work with Abner Ravenwood, and his initial romance with Marion. Bridge the gap between The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and Temple of Doom (which chronologically is set before Raiders). 4a) Since I’ve already committed blasphemy, let me further suggest that future films might also benefit from a different director. “It’s not the years, honey, it’s the mileage,” Indiana once said. Spielberg can still produce, but this franchise needs a jolt. Paging Christopher Nolan.
How did you feel about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, PopWatchers? Would more father-son bonding and UFO intrigue in a fifth film please or offend you? Would you prefer the inevitable Indiana Jones reboot now? What young actor do you envision wearing that fedora and who would you like to see direct?
Sure, 2008 was a banner year for Indiana Jones fans, but Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was, to put it kindly, the fourth best Indy film, and Lego Indiana Jones was a cute rehash of the original trilogy that skewed toward the younger set. Redemption may be just around the corner: This summer LucasArts whips up Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings, a brand new adventure on the Wii.
Releasing on June 9, this game has a serpentine backstory. It started out in 2006 as a next-gen Xbox 360/PS3 game powered by a new 3D technology called Euphoria. The demo I saw showed a fight sequence with Indy atop a moving cable car in San Francisco. It looked tantalizing but that game was canceled; LucasArts officially says it was a "strategic business decision" to stop work on the title. The project eventually evolved into Staff of Kings, which includes bits from the more advanced PS3/Xbox 360 version (including the cable car scene) but runs on the less powerful Wii console.
While it's still not quite the true next-gen Indy payout gamers have been clamoring for, it's shaping up to be a satisfying chaser after last summer's Indy binge. LucasArts provided us with this exclusive web documentary, which goes into more detail about the game's production.
How about it PopWatchers: Are you looking forward to some more Indy action?
In case you haven't heard, one bit of big news that came out of the movie industry's annual Las Vegas convention, ShoWest, today was that foreign box office receipts now make up 65 percent of Hollywood's global theatrical revenues. Sixty-five percent! That's almost two-thirds! That means that what we here in the U.S. and Canada spend amounts to a fractional one-third of the average movie's worldwide take! Whoa!
Why should we care? The time-tested theory has it that in catering more and more to an international crowd, Hollywood is placing its bets on movies that can be appreciated by the broadest possible audience (i.e. films overloaded with gunfights, special effects, and superheroes) and giving up on straight dramas and smart comedies (whose themes and jokes tend to get lost in translation). A quick scan of 2008's top box office earners bears that out: Big winners like Quantum of Solace (which earned 71 percent of its global box office overseas), Indiana Jones 4 (60 percent), and Mamma Mia! (76 percent) relied heavily on foreign crowds to boost the bottom line; perceived disappointments like The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (66 percent) were saved by money earned elsewhere; and hit domestic comedies like Step Brothers (22 percent) and Pineapple Express (14 percent) struggled internationally. Of course, studios are still making funny films like Pineapple Express, but I can report that my hunt for a basic drama that even closely resembles, say, 1988's Best Picture, Rain Man (which grossed $354.8 mil worldwide...in 1988 dollars!) turned up nil. (Closest thing I could find was the giant-visual-effect-disguised-as-drama The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.)
So, okay, point proven. But lemme try this on you: Perhaps we should just get used to the fact that dinosaurs like Rain Man are extinct, and we should be glad that James Bond and Indiana Jones and their friends are propping up the box office. After all, domestic attendance declined in 2008 (although it has rebounded in 2009, so far), domestic receipts were basically flat, and Hollywood should be glad it has any good news to report in the current economic climate. What do you think? Should we just embrace this trend and be glad that, at the very least, there's something playing in the multiplex? Or do you want more Rain Mans?
Are you -- much like Bonnie Tyler -- holding out for a hero? We certainly are: For an upcoming issue, Entertainment Weekly will be compiling a list of the top 20 heroes in pop culture, past and present. But we also want to know, who are your top do-gooders? Indiana Jones? Luke Skywalker? Neo? The Little Mermaid? Wolverine? They could be from movies, TV, books, or comic books. So write your picks below, even if they've already been suggested: We're going to compile the top vote-getters and announce them in the issue. (And we know what you're thinking: "My mom or dad is my real hero." That's all fine, but come on: Do they have a utility belt, bullwhip, or ability to save a roomful of hostages? We thought not. Let's go for the biggies.)
What may be a holy grail of Indiana Jones artifacts was posted online on Monday: a 125-page transcript of the original story-conference meeting involving producer George Lucas, director Steven Spielberg, and writer Lawrence Kasdan. The blog, Mystery Man on Film, somehow got its hands on the alleged transcript, which features the filmmakers talking at great length in January 1978 about what would eventually become Raiders of the Lost Ark. The thing's a pure joy to read. In it, you can find the genesis of everything from Indiana Jones' name to his fear of snakes to his (possibly risque) romantic history with Marion Ravenwood.
One of my favorite moments in the transcript occurs when Spielberg is repeatedly transfixed with making Raiders' famous opening rolling-boulder-chase sequencefeel like a Disneyland ride. "What we're just doing here, really, is designing a ride at Disneyland," Spielberg says on page 15. And guess what happened 17 years later, in 1995? Disneyland opened an Indiana Jones ride, or should I say, an amusement-park ride based on a movie based on an amusement-park ride. It's postmodernism at its best!
EW called Lucasfilm for a comment, and a representative declined to give one, but did point out that parts of the document previously appeared in the book The Complete Making of Indiana Jones. But what do you think? Does the transcript appear genuine to you? Which of the three filmmakers seemed the savviest in their conversations? And how different would the world have been if the character wound up being called Indiana Smith, as Lucas initially envisioned?
The DVD of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull goes on sale today. I can't say I hated the movie (the first half hour was okay), but that's mostly because I so flattened my expectations. Sure, it was a gas to see a Dr. Jones with a few more years (and miles) on him — but there was something so soulless and tired in the story and direction. Anyway, this seems as good a time as any to peep a few minutes of Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation. You might remember reading about this a few years back: three young teenage Raider fans, who in 1982, decided to make a shot-for-shot recreation of the movie — a seven-year endeavor in which they had to make do with local talent, their own modest resources, and plenty of ingenuity and gumption. Check out their story (which has a great ending) and then be (in this order) amused, charmed, and impressed by the vision of three talented (and determined) middle-school students from a small town in Mississippi.
I just got a press release about tomorrow's DVD release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and apparently Best Buy is offering a "gift set with replica crystal skull from Sideshow Collectibles and a $25 gift card to Sideshowcollectibles.com." Add two zeroes to that figure (and make it cash), and yeah, I could find a spot on my mantelpiece for the hideous noggin. You?
Sex and the City — whoa! Who saw that big No. 1 finish coming? Not most box office pundits. Not EW.com's own box-office analyst. Not pretty much every man this side of, uh, Pluto. Did anybody expect that the lovely ladies of the HBO adaptation would beat Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull at the box office last weekend? Why yes, in fact, several smarties did — about 40 percent of the players in EW.com's Summer Box Office Challenge called it correctly! Bravo, people! And bravo to the four folks with perfect scores last week, led by our winner-by-tiebreaker, "lisawg22," who accurately predicted the final order of the top 10 at the multiplex.
Wanna get in on the fun? Wanna have a chance to win a free pair of Manolo Blahniks? Well, in that case, you'll have to look elsewhere. But if you want to have a chance to win some free DVDs, you've come to the right place: Just click on over to our game and register your picks for this weekend's big battle (Adam Sandler's You Don't Mess With the Zohan (pictured)? Jack Black's animated Kung Fu Panda?) by Friday at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
With the summer movie season now in full swing, players in EW.com's Summer Box Office Challenge have happened upon an interesting, er, challenge: predicting the exact finish of movies outside of the top five. Sounds easy, sure. After all, last weekend, everybody knew that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was going to be No. 1, and most figured out that The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and Iron Man would easily round out the first three spots at the box office. So how hard could correctly picking the next seven movies in order have been? Very, as it turned out. The battle for sixth place was decided by a Florida in 2000-esque $5,072, the teensy amount by which Baby Mama edged out Made of Honor. And occupying the No. 10 spot for the second straight weekend was the critically acclaimed (but largely unheralded) indie The Visitor, which has quietly grossed $4.4 mil in seven weeks.
Oddities like those generally go unreported, but if you can gain a firm understanding of them, you might just have what it takes to win our game — and take home some DVD prizes. (Indeed, a whopping 30 people got perfect scores over the Memorial Day span; a tiebreaker will figure out who gets the loot.) So while you may feel confident that the Sex and the City movie could pass Indy 4 for supremacy this upcoming weekend, you should really be asking yourself: Which movie will come next? And which film will come after that one? And then you should make your picks. And, you know, have a little fun, too.
Boffo box office aside, not everyone is loving the new Indiana Jones movie. A number of folks have quibbles about the movie's accuracy. (Let's not even get started on these guys' complaint.) Over at Asylum.com, they've prevailed upon archaeologist Kristin Romey (who's explored some of the Latin American turf covered in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) to see which parts of the movie plausibly portray archaeologists and their work and which do not. The implausible stuff (besides Harrison Ford, pictured, still being able to kick ass at 65) is pretty evident, but the elements that are realistic may surprise you. It turns out that archaeologists often really are spies who pack heat and behave like horndogs. Who knew? Can't wait 'til the Asylum folks apply similar investigative zeal to this season's other fantasy films, including Iron Man, Prince Caspian, and Sex and the City.
In case you haven't heard, one bit of big news that came out of the movie industry's annual Las Vegas convention, ShoWest, today was that 
Are you -- much like Bonnie Tyler -- holding out for a hero? We certainly are: For an upcoming issue, Entertainment Weekly will be compiling a list of the top 20 heroes in pop culture, past and present. But we also want to know, who are your top do-gooders? Indiana Jones? Luke Skywalker? Neo? The Little Mermaid? Wolverine? They could be from movies, TV, books, or comic books. So write your picks below, even if they've already been suggested: We're going to compile the top vote-getters and announce them in the issue. (And we know what you're thinking: "My mom or dad is my real hero." That's all fine, but come on: Do they have a utility belt, bullwhip, or ability to save a roomful of hostages? We thought not. Let's go for the biggies.)
What may be a holy grail of Indiana Jones artifacts was posted online on Monday: 
I just got a press release about tomorrow's DVD release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and apparently Best Buy is offering a "gift set with replica crystal skull from Sideshow Collectibles and a $25 gift card to Sideshowcollectibles.com." Add two zeroes to that figure (and make it cash), and yeah, I could find a spot on my mantelpiece for the hideous noggin. You?
With the summer movie season now in full swing, players in 
