Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny to Premiere at Cannes

The globe-trotting adventures of Indiana Jones have brought the archeologist to Egypt, India, Austria, the Amazon — and now Cannes, France. According to Variety, Disney and Lucasfilm will premiere Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny at the 76th annual Cannes Film Festival, 15 years after the Steven Spielberg-directed Kingdom of the Crystal Skull opened there in 2008. The fifth and final Indiana Jones installment follows last year’s Top Gun: Maverick as the latest Hollywood blockbuster invited to the festival, joining 2023 Cannes Film Festival selections Killers of the Flower Moon and Strange Way of Life.

This year’s festival will take place May 16th-27th. Variety reports Dial of Destiny could premiere on either day 2 (May 17th) or day 3 (May 18th), more than a month before the film’s theatrical release on June 30th.

Harrison Ford reprises his iconic role for the last time, leading an international cast that includes Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag) as Jones’ goddaughter, Mads Mikkelsen (Star Wars: Rogue One) as ex-Nazi Jürgen Voller, Antonio Banderas (Uncharted) and Toby Jones (Captain America: The First Avenger) as Indy allies Renaldo and Basil, and John Rhys-Davies (Raiders of the Lost Ark) returning as Sallah.

James Mangold (3:10 to Yuma, Logan, Ford v Ferrari) is directing the pic executive produced by franchise filmmaker Spielberg and creator George Lucas, with composer John Williams returning to score Indy’s last ride into the sunset. Kathleen Kennedy (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker), Frank Marshall (Jurassic World), and Simon Emanuel (The Batman) also serve as executive producers.

Plot details are locked away in a museum vault, but the plot will revolve around another world history-adjacent relic that could possess a mysterious power: the eponymous Dial of Destiny. 

“I can’t [reveal the Dial], because I don’t want to give the movie away,” Mangold told EW. “But is there a relic in this movie that possesses a kind of power, or may possess a kind of power? And is it based on history and scientific speculation? Yes.” Mangold revealed Dial of Destiny opens on a “blast of classic Indy action,” a flashback to World War II-era 1944, with Mangold doing “my very best version of Steven [Spielberg], and Harrison doing his best version of being under 40.”

Aside from sequences featuring the digitally de-aged 80-year-old Ford, Dial of Destiny takes place mostly in 1969, against the backdrop of the space race. Mangold added the late ’60s setting makes for a “wonderful synergy between this kind of pulpy cinematic style of the films, and the period itself and the cinematic language of that day.”

Disney and Lucasfilm’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny opens only in theaters June 30th.