Indiana Jones 5 Director Reflects on Mixed Reception, “It Hurt”

James Mangold confronts the bittersweet reality of crafting Harrison Ford‘s farewell to an iconic role. In a recent conversation with Deadline, the Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny filmmaker opened up about the challenges of concluding the beloved franchise, expressing particular concern about viewers’ difficulty embracing an octogenarian Indiana Jones. The director offered a candid assessment comes in the wake of the film’s challenging theatrical run. Despite achieving a 70% “fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes after an initial rating of 52%, the summer release struggled at the box office, generating $381.6 million worldwide against substantial production and marketing costs, resulting in an estimated $100 million loss for Disney.

“You have a wonderful, brilliant actor who’s in his eighties. So I’m making a movie about this guy in his eighties, but his audience on one other level doesn’t want to confront their hero at that age,” Mangold said.

This outcome stands in stark contrast to the project’s promising beginnings. Mangold revealed that the opportunity arose when his Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown was temporarily halted due to COVID-19 restrictions and star Timothée Chalamet’s Dune commitments. “And then here come lifelong heroes from my childhood into my life going, ‘We have something for you to work on,’” he shared, referring to Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy’s approach.

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Despite the commercial disappointment, Mangold maintains his artistic vision was fundamentally sound, particularly regarding the film’s meditation on aging and closure. “It was a joyous experience, but it hurt, in the sense that I really love Harrison and I wanted audiences to love him as he was and to accept that that’s part of what the movie has to say—that things come to an end, that’s part of life.”

Mangold previously defended the film during its initial release. Speaking to Variety in June 2023, he addressed early mixed reviews by suggesting that franchise entries face unique critical challenges. “When you’re in franchise land, it’s very hard for critical thinkers to overlook what I’m sure their editors want, which is this business prism of how does it rate to the other ones? I always thought if I were second or third best to one of the greatest films of all time, I’d be good. I mean, it all vaporizes later. Either the movie will live or it won’t.”

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny appears to mark a definitive conclusion for the theatrical franchise, with Disney officially declaring it the final installment in the epic, iconic franchise in recent promotional materials. However, the door remains slightly ajar for future iterations in different formats. Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy has previously suggested that while Ford’s portrayal is conclusively finished, “truthfully, right now, if we were to do anything, it might be in series television down the road, but we’re not doing anything to replace Indiana Jones.”

Kennedy has indicated that potential future projects could explore different aspects of the universe, with early discussions mentioning a possible series about young Abner Ravenwood, Marion’s father who was referenced in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Additionally, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s character Helena, established as a capable archaeologist and explorer in Dial of Destiny, could potentially return in either theatrical or streaming formats.