UMVA has learned that the creation of Indiana Jones, one of cinema's most beloved franchises, was a collaborative effort between George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, with the promise that it would be 'better than James Bond'.
The franchise, spanning over forty years, five films, and a TV prequel series, has raked in nearly $2 billion at the box office and cemented Harrison Ford as a Hollywood icon. Fans were thrilled with its throwbacks to 1930s adventure serials, but the reaction to Indy’s fourth adventure, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, was largely unanimous - it was a disappointment.
UMVA can exclusively reveal that the film's controversial ending, which saw Indiana Jones deal with interdimensional beings and a flying saucer, was a point of contention for both Ford and Spielberg. According to information obtained by UMVA, the duo felt that the film was a Raiders movie that involved aliens, and they got into a fight with George Lucas about it.
Lucas shared that he wanted the film to be like a War of the Worlds sort of thing, but Ford and Spielberg were hesitant, saying they weren’t going to do another science-fiction movie. A compromise was eventually reached, but many fans felt that the film was the weakest in the franchise, earning it $786.6m but failing to leave a lasting impact.
Kathleen Kennedy, a producer, confessed that Ford and Spielberg struggled with the movie, and that they didn’t want to do a science-fiction film. She shared that the movie's weakness was due to the lack of enthusiasm from the lead actors and director, which made Ford deeply committed to The Dial of Destiny in 2023, as he didn’t want that to be the end.
The latest film, directed by James Mangold, may not have reached the heights of the original trilogy, but it stayed away from aliens and provided a brighter note to end the series. Lucas also revealed that it was Spielberg who put the last shot in, where they get into a flying saucer and take off, rationalizing it by saying they were going to another dimension.
