Axed Boba Fett Movie Was a ‘Borderline R-Rated’ Spaghetti Western That ‘Probably Scared the S— Out of Everyone,’ Says James Mangold

Filmmaker James Mangold’s “Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny” is in theaters now, and while it seemed to underwhelm at the global box office in its opening weekend, the film has grossed $305 million worldwide so far, so maybe there’s hope it can have some minor legs. If anything, it maybe shows how making a blockbuster with an 80-year-old star can only take you so far with audiences.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” almost pulled an “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” by opening with an extended sequence featuring a de-aged version of its main star. “Dial of Destiny” de-aged Harrison Ford to mixed results for a 25-minute opener. “Dead Reckoning” director Christopher McQuarrie ultimately nixed an idea to de-age Tom Cruise because the technology just isn’t convincing enough yet. “Originally, there had been a whole sequence at the beginning of the movie that was going to take place in 1989,” McQuarrie told GamesRadar+ and Total Film. “We talked about it as a cold open, we talked about it as flashbacks in the movie, we looked at de-aging.”

Harrison Ford was not completely impressed when he was presented with the costume he would be wearing as Indiana Jones for Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director In a new video interview with GQ magazine, Harrison Ford revealed that he pushed back against Indiana Jones’ iconic costume when he first saw the plans for his character during the development of Steven Spielberg’s “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981). The costume included a leather jacket, a bullwhip and a pinch-front fedora that Ford stapled to his head during production so that it would not fly off during action scenes. Ford told GQ he still has the staple scars. “It was presented to me as an aspect of character in the first film,” Ford said about Indiana Jones’ costume. “My questions about it were many. Why am I wearing a leather jacket in the jungle? Isn’t it hot here? Why am I carrying a whip? What am I going to do with a fucking whip? I’m going to whip people?”

Zack Sharf Digital News Director A July 2000 clip from “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” has gone viral on social media for featuring the eponymous late night host making a joke to Harrison Ford about the actor playing Indiana Jones when he’s 80 years old. That panned out to be somewhat true in the recently-released “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” which opened in theaters just a few weeks before Ford turns 81 years old. “People will never get tired of that genre,” O’Brien told Ford at the time. “When you’re 80 you could just do ones where they bring the treasures to you.” Ford burst into laughter, with O’Brien adding that an “Indiana Jones” movie starring an 80-year-old Harrison Ford could be titled, “Indiana Jones and the Comfortable Bed.”

Bob Dylan is lending his personal touch to James Mangold’s upcoming film about the timeless music icon.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Harrison Ford roasted Conan O’Brien on a recent episode of the “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” podcast after the “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” icon discovered O’Brien had “Han Solo” written down in his notes for the interview. The two men were playfully arguing about Ford’s ancestry, which led O’Brien to consult some info he had jotted down prior to the interview. “I refer you to this piece of paper right here,” O’Brien said. “That says, ‘Born and raised in Chicago to an Irish German father—'” Ford leaned over to take a look at O’Brien’s notes and then interrupted the host when he realized they included a reminder that Ford played Han Solo in the “Star Wars” franchise. Along with Indiana Jones, Han Solo is Ford’s most iconic character.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Harrison Ford just wrapped up his tenure as Indiana Jones in the franchise’s fifth installment, “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” which opened in theaters just a few weeks before the actor’s 81st birthday. Tom Cruise hopes to have the same longevity when it comes to playing Ethan Hunt in Paramount’s long-running “Mission: Impossible” franchise. Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald at the Australian premiere of “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,” Cruise said he wants to keep making “Mission: Impossible” movies until he is Ford’s age. Cruise just turned 61 years old on July 3, 2023. “Harrison Ford is a legend; I hope to be still going. I’ve got 20 years to catch up with him,” Cruise said. “I hope to keep making ‘Mission: Impossible’ films until I’m his age.”

J. Kim Murphy “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” is staying in line with some tempered box office expectations, still tracking to fall in line with estimates that had pegged the film with an opening between $80 million and $85 million through the Fourth of July holiday. The Harrison Ford finale earned $11.8 million on Monday, pushing its domestic total to $71 million. Unlike some other holidays, Independence Day isn’t exactly the largest box office booster — with families hitting the beach, barbecuing red meat and waiting for fireworks, filmgoing isn’t exactly at the top of the agenda for most Americans. Rather, it’s the time off around the Fourth that can offer some extra lift to studio tentpoles.

Shia LaBeouf‘s character Mutt Williams is not featured in the new movie Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and director James Mangold is explaining why the character was killed out of the franchise.

Mads Mikkelsen stars opposite Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny playing Nazi scientist Dr. Jürgen Voller. The actor recently opened up about the roles that he likes to play opting to play “losers” on-screen versus “cutie pie” characters.

J. Kim Murphy Indiana Jones has begun his last box office crusade, with the fifth franchise entry earning $24 million on its opening day from 4,600 theaters. It’s a figure that includes $7.2 million in previews in Thursday previews. The action-adventure film from Disney and Lucasfilm is expected to debut near the bottom of projections, projecting a three-day opening of $60 million or so. It’ll be more than enough for the Harrison Ford finale to land in the top spot on domestic charts, setting itself up to draw crowds through the Fourth of July holiday — but it’s not exactly the victorious tone-setter for one of the 20 or so most expensive blockbusters ever made. With a whopping $295 million production budget, “Indiana Jones 5” faces quite the trek to theatrical profitability.

SATURDAY AM: Refresh for chart…and more analysis Disney/Lucasfilm’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is still bound to open at the bottom of end of tracking’s projection of $60M as this morning. I saw an estimate in The Flash vicinity of $55M last night and took an Alka Seltzer out of shock. Hopefully Dial of Destiny doesn’t fall apart tonight and at least stays on course for a Mission: Impossible – Fallout type opening in the $60M range over three days. That figure might be good for exhibition and popcorn sales over the five-day holiday weekend, but it stinks for a movie that has a reported cost of $250M to near $300M before P&A.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot developments, including the ending, of “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” currently playing in theaters. When director James Mangold started writing “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” with screenwriters Jez and John-Henry Butterworth, he didn’t know how the movie was going to end. Mangold inherited the film from director Steven Spielberg, who had been developing the project for three years with screenwriter David Koepp. When Mangold took over, he and the Butterworth started effectively from scratch, crafting a story in which Harrison Ford’s titular archeologist and Nazi puncher contends with his own age and irrelevance while chasing after the Antikythera, a mysterious device with the power to find fissures in time, created by the ancient Greek mathematician and inventor Archimedes.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot developments, including the final scene, in “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” currently playing in theaters. When Lucasfilm announced in 2016 that Steven Spielberg was making a fifth “Indiana Jones” movie with Harrison Ford, fans naturally wondered how much of a role Karen Allen’s Marian Ravenwood — Indy’s spitfire equal from 1981’s “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and the love of his life — would play in the new film. The last time audiences saw Marian, she was getting married to Indy at the end of 2008’s “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” after she revealed to Indy that they’d had a child together, who Indy meets as teenage greaser Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf). So any follow-up movie would at the very least need to address the fact that Indy is married with a (grown) kid.

With “Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny,” James Mangold returns to the blockbuster format he excelled at in the likes of “The Wolverine” and “Logan,” his two most commercially successful films to date. But while Mangold endorses the return of Indy to the big screen, in no small part because he made the franchise’s latest entry, he laments Hugh Jackman‘s return as Wolverine for the upcoming “Deadpool 3.” At the same time, however, he understands Jackman reprising the role was inevitable.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny does not feature Indy’s son, Mutt Williams, but his absence doesn’t go unexplained. [Spoilers ahead!]

revealed to Yahoo! that he didn’t even know at the time that Selleck had originally been attached to — and subsequently left — the project. Han Solo himself had just polished off filming the “Star Wars” flick “The Empire Strikes Back,” and director George Lucas asked him to read for the character of Jones.

Goodbyes don’t tend to mean much in the Hollywood franchise system. Death isn’t a reliable end for characters or, lately, even actors. Technology, nostalgia and the often-inflated value of brands and IP have created a nightmarish cycle of resurrection and regurgitation, curdling what we love most.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Harrison Ford and Phoebe Waller-Bridge tried to out-prank each other during the making of “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” the latter actor revealed in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly. “From the moment we met, it was shithead’s all round,” Waller-Bridge said. “We were taking the piss out of each other all the time, and having a lot of fun. The most extraordinary thing about working with Harrison is that you’re definitely at work — in that his work ethic is so on point, and his discipline is so extraordinary — but because he’s that specific and the foundation of the work is really strong, the rest of it can be really fun. There were a lot of pranks… lots of pranks.”