Indiana Jones 5 Shot Multiple Endings And They Are All Awful
The upcoming Indiana Jones 5 film shot six different endings, and each was received poorly by viewers in test screenings.
This article is more than 2 years old
Just after exciting news of an Indiana Jones series broke, rumors are swirling that an upcoming franchise film’s test screenings have been met with awful audience reactions, and Disney is in a panic. Featured within those rumors is an interesting tidbit: apparently, Indiana Jones 5 filmed six different endings for the film…and audiences haven’t liked any of them. Certainly, this is bad news for a franchise whose last film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, was met with mixed reviews, and even spawned a mocking “nuke the fridge” meme online.
The news that Indiana Jones 5‘s six endings are testing poorly is certainly panic-worthy for Disney. According to World of Reel, one of the endings, which was said to be the least popular one, had co-star Phoebe-Waller Bridge replacing Harrison Ford at the end of the film. Presumably, this would set up the franchise for further sequels with Ford not returning. Yet another unpopular conclusion had Ford’s Indiana Jones dying, bringing a final end to the much-loved character.
With news that Disney+ is planning an Indiana Jones series, it makes little sense to have a Indiana Jones 5 ending with the titular character replaced with a new character, or to have the character killed off — unless the proposed series is set earlier in the character’s timeline, and they re-cast the role of Indiana Jones himself. Jones has been played by other actors before, notably Boondock Saints star Sean Patrick Flanery in the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, which aired on ABC in the early 1990s.
Disney has been looking at ways to expand on the properties they own. A series based on the movie Willow, another Lucasfilm property, is also in the works which Disney hopes will join other successful streaming series such as those based on Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
If the Indiana Jones 5 ending with Phoebe-Waller Bridge replacing Harrison Ford and taking the torch as the new adventuring archeologist, is used, it certainly would be a way to set up the franchise for further sequels with Ford ending his tenure as the character. Harrison Ford will be 81 at the time of the film’s release, and would almost certainly be past the point of believably portraying such a physically demanding action role, but the question remains, can the franchise survive if the main character isn’t Indiana Jones?
Indiana Jones 5 – with whichever ending they choose – is being directed by James Mangold (Logan, Ford vs Ferrari) with a script by Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth. Harrison Ford will once again be reprising his role as Indy with Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Kretschmann, Boyd Holbrook, Shaunette Renée Wilson, Toby Jones, John Rhys-Davies and Antonio Banderas appearing in the film. It will be the first Indiana Jones film without a story by George Lucas, or directed by Stephen Spielberg, although John Williams will be composing what will be his final film score.
Indiana Jones 5 will be the first LucasFilm movie outside of the Star Wars franchise since Disney acquired the company in 2012. The recent Star Wars films by Disney heavily divided the fanbase, and it appears, from the rumors surrounding the abysmal test screenings, that Indiana Jones 5 may be in a similar situation with the endings fiasco. Either way, we’ll know when the film is released on June 30th, 2023.
