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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.

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In an interview with France's Le Figaro (via People), Ford answered a few quick questions concerning the future of the beloved Indiana Jones franchise, confirming a quick mention made by Indy Jr. (Shia LaBeouf) last June that Steven Spielberg had just "broken the story". The major questions are: What will the story entail? What mythic artifact will Indy be in search of this time, and who will stop at nothing to make sure he doesn't get it? These are the broad details that could make or break the fifth film, but there are also the finer details such as the relationship between Indy and his long lost son, the role of his now wife, Marion Ravenwood, and of course, what horrible animal there will be copious amounts of. There's a lot of room to be creative and give us a good film here, but I swear to god that if Shia becomes the "hip new hero" and replaces Indy in the main action, there will be untold amounts of murder/suicides among Indy fans.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that this won't be very good. Of course I love Indy, and Ford and Spielberg, Lucas not so much, and seeing Ford beating up commies in his old fedora and leather jacket was almost worth the price of admission. But it just hurt so damn bad last summer get all excited for a new Indiana Jones and wind up with what was offered. I'm not going to go into the minutia of CG gofers, the "Transformers" kid swinging from vines like a prepubescent Tarzan, and weird alien ghost things, but I will say the movie was a let down. Even if I didn't have "Raiders", "Temple of Doom", and "Last Crusade" to compare it too, "Crystal Skull" still falls flat.

But pragmatic caution aside, I will of course pay money to see this flick when (if) it comes to theaters, and I'd wager so will everyone reading this. In spite of a lot (cough "War of the Worlds" cough) I still have faith in Steven Spielberg to put together an exciting film. All he has to do learn to use the "no" word with Lucas a bit more. "No, George, this doesn't need to be CGI." "No, George, I don't think someone would mistake a snake for a rope." And for the love of all things holy, put Sallah in this one. Long story short, there are a lot of choices up to Spielberg et all that could decide whether or not this movie succeeds with fans and the general audience alike. Let's hope they don't choose...poorly.

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