The folks over at Coming Soon are reporting that Paramount has just announced that Indiana Jones 4 will be released in theaters on May 22nd 2008. You’ll have to forgive me is I file this one under the “Ya, I’ll believe it when I see it” category.
Paramount Pictures has set Thursday, May 22, 2008 as the release for the fourth “Indiana Jones” movie, which the studio is now officially referring to as the Fourth Installment of the Indiana Jones Adventures. The picture maintains the Memorial Day weekend release strategy of the last two “Indiana Jones” movies, and it mirrors the last two “Star Wars” movies and The Matrix Reloaded with its Thursday launch.
Ok ok ok, let’s put aside the fact that I still can’t actually believe they’re going to make this film at all in the first place. Let’s assume for a moment that it is indeed going to get made (ignore all that talk going on the last couple of days about Ford not doing the movie unless he uses a real whip… none of that was true). Assuming that it will get made there are a certain facts that make a May 22nd date (basically just a year from now) unbelievable.
1) They haven’t even started shooting this thing yet
2) From what I hear, Harrison Ford can’t handle a rigorous shooting schedule at this point
3) I expect there is going to be a lot of post production required for this film
4) Lucas (for all his flaws) and Spielberg are both very picky with details
5) Did I mention it’s just a year away and they haven’t even started shooting yet?
Ok, is it IMPOSSIBLE to have an Indiana Jones 4 ready for May 22nd? No, it’s not impossible. But that seems like an awfully ambitious release date to me. Hey, I’ll be the first one in line late May 21st to see this thing… but you already know what I think about it’s chances of happening at all.