Every time there’s a new home video format, there are always a couple of films that wait years to hit the market. But what better way to get people excited about buying something they’ve already owned (and perhaps multiple times)? And so finally in 2012, we get Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures on Blu-ray. It comes with all three Indiana Jones films and this other film on Blu-ray with an additional disc of bonus features. All things told, the supplements don’t warrant an upgrade, but the picture and sound quality make this a must have. Our review of the Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures Blu-ray set follows after the jump.

If you’re a fan of the Indiana Jones franchise, September is a great month.  Not only did Raiders of the Lost Ark get a special one-week IMAX release, but the entire franchise hits Blu-ray next week and the box set is loaded with incredible behind-the-scenes extras.  For a full list of what’s included, click here.  But trust me when I say, this is a set absolutely worth owning.  Click here to order Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures on Amazon.

To help promote the release, I recently got to visit LucasFilm in San Francisco and participate in a group interview with Sound Designer Ben Burtt and Visual Effects Supervisor Dennis Muren.  They talked about their thoughts on how the films hold up, the visual effects, their favorite moments, how Burtt came up with some of the signature sounds, if anything changed during the restoration process, and a lot more.  Hit the jump for what they had to say.

My Blu-ray budget is about to expand significantly as we inch closer towards the holiday season, and the Steven Spielberg trifecta kicks off this month with the Jaws Blu-ray, followed by E.T The Extra-Terrestrial and Indiana Jones: The Complete Collection in the ensuing weeks.  A full list of the special features included on the four-film Indiana Jones Blu-ray set has now been released, and it appears that only one new documentary will be on the set.

Nevertheless, the two-part “On Set with Raiders of the Lost Ark” boasts nearly an hour of rarely seen footage from the set and archival interviews, and the collection also includes a 1981 making-of documentary for Raiders that was previously unavailable on DVD as well as all the bonus features that appeared on earlier home video releases of all four Indiana Jones films.  Hit the jump to check out the entire list of what the set entails, including specifications.  Indiana Jones: The Complete Collection hits stores on September 18th.

As we reported last month, all four Indiana Jones movies will be making their way to Blu-ray on September 18th (Crystal Skull was already available).  A new trailer for the box set has gone online, and this trailer will presumably play on a loop at the Lucasfilm Pavilion on the exhibition floor (booth #2913), which is where there will also be a Well of Souls “live snake pit”.  We still don’t know exactly what will be in the seven hours of bonus features, but it looks like there will be rare behind-the-scenes footage and the primary players looking back on the movies.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The 2012 San Diego Comic-Con runs from July 12 – 15th.

It’s gonna be one hell of a Blu-ray season this fall for Steven Spielberg fans.  Jaws comes to Blu-ray for the first time on August 14th, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial hits the format in October, and now a release date has been set for Indiana Jones: The Complete Collection.  We previously learned that Indy would be getting the HD treatment back in February, but now Lucasfilm and Paramount Home Entertainment have announced that the set will hit stores on September 18th.  The collection includes remastered versions of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, as well as a completely restored version of Raiders of the Lost Ark supervised by Spielberg and sound designer Ben Burtt.

The discs will include documentaries, interviews, featurettes and “new bonus features,” though it hasn’t yet been announced what these new features entail.  I’m pulling for an extended, candid retrospective with Spielberg, George Lucas and Harrison Ford, but that seems unlikely.  Hit the jump to check out the artwork, read the press release, and watch the previously released Blu-ray trailer.

The first three Indiana Jones movies will finally make their way to Blu-ray this fall.  Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is already available on Blu-ray, but who cares?  We want the good movies in the series, and they’ll be available in one box set.  Crystal Skull will also be in there, but no one’s going to force you to watch it.  As for extras on the Indiana Jones box-set, “there will be a ‘best of’ collection of documentaries, interviews, featurettes and a few new surprises”.  Presumably, we’ll be getting everything that was on the Adventures of Indiana Jones DVD box set.  If Lucasfilm and Paramount Home Media Distribution were smart, they would throw in Jamie Benning’s unofficial Raiders of the Lost Ark “filmumentary,” but unfortunately that will probably never happen.  Still, I’m not going to nitpick over getting Indy in HD.

Hit the jump for the press release and the trailer for the Blu-ray set.

Steven Spielberg is making the press rounds for The Adventures of Tintin, and naturally he’s being asked the future of his franchises, specifically Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones.   In June, we reported that Spielberg was brainstorming ideas with screenwriter Mark Protosevich (I Am Legend) on how to reboot the Jurassic Park.  In a recent interview with Empire, Spielberg provided an update on the project:

“The screenplay is being written right now by Mark Protosevich. I’m hoping that will come out in the next couple of years. We have a good story. We have a better story for four than we had for three…”

Perhaps there will be less of a reliance on raptor whistles this time around.  Hit the jump for what Spielberg had to say about the shortcomings of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and the status of Indiana Jones 5.

Indiana Jones rumors are like tabloids. You can’t stop reading them even though most of the time they’re wrong.  Well, the latest rumor circling the web about Indiana Jones 5 is that it will be about, or set in, the Bermuda Triangle and start filming next year.  An anonymous source claimed: “George [Lucas] and Steven [Spielberg] have been working on a script and it’s almost there.”

Like most rumors, you’ve got to take this with a grain of salt. Lucas has been producing Red Tails and Spielberg has been attached to, well, a million things so who knows when either would have the time to work on a script.  Then again, Harrison Ford and Shia LaBeouf have each dropped hints in recent months that could point to the Triangle.

For more possible information on the sequel and the Bermuda Triangle, hit the jump. [UPDATE: Producer Frank Marshall tweeted "The rumor about INDY 5 is completely false. Nothing has changed, we are not shooting next year and still in the research phase..."]

Harrison Ford told the BBC that there is now an official idea for the plot to Indiana Jones 5.

“Steven [Spielberg] and George [Lucas] and I are sort of agreed on a germ of an idea and we’re seeing what comes of it,” the star said.

What does this mean? Well, first things first, it means our nightmares have come true. An unnecessary follow up to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is imminent. But it could take a while.

“The process works like this,” Ford continued. “We come to some basic agreement and then George goes away for a long time and works on it. Then Steven and I get it in some form, some embryonic form. Then if we like it, we start working with George on it and at some point down the line it’s ready and we do it.”

Hit the jump to read where this statement puts us, production hurdles for the filmmakers and more.

From the horse’s mouth, it seems that The Man with the Hat is gearing up for another global adventure in the next few years. Harrison Ford says that work on the story for the fifth “Indiana Jones” film has started and that George Lucas is currently at work on a treatment after the he, Steven Spielberg, and Ford agreed on a general story idea. Ford says, “If the script is good, I’ll be very happy to put on the costume again.” Another film was almost a no brainer financially after the strong box office showing of 2008′s “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”, which had an opening weekend gross of over $126 million and a final gross of $317 million on an estimated $185 million budget. Money is one thing, however, as the critical and fan response to the film was lackluster at best. Grab your whip and hit the jump to read more.