Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull

Hollywood magazine Variety is reporting that Steven Spielberg will not direct the upcoming Indiana Jones movie and will hand over duties to James Mangold.

Steven Spielberg has to date directed all the Indiana Jones films, and its always been thought he would always directed the movies, especially as his friend George Lucas has written the movies especially for the fames director to make.

The big question is has James Mangold been hand picked by Spielberg? His directing duties to date are 2019's Ford V. Ferrari (Le Mans '66 in the UK) which was nominated for a number of awards and he was the executive producer on The Greatest Showman.

With this in mind the big question is should be have a new Indiana Jones movie? The last film in the franchise is considered the worst, and without the Spielberg/Lucas/Ford magic can it ever live up to the franchises best moments?

Or maybe its time to hand over to a new director and get some new life in the flagging series, although Harrison Ford will certainly play Indiana Jones despite the fact he is pushing 80.

Time will tell and the release date for the movie is currently set for sometime in mid 2021.

Steven Spielberg Won’t Direct ‘Indiana Jones 5,’ James Mangold in Talks to Replace (EXCLUSIVE) https://t.co/hS2h64Qyji

— Variety (@Variety) February 26, 2020

A new Indiana Jones film is on its way for release in 2019 an announcement from Disney confirms.

Naturally it will be directed by Steven Spielberg and star Harrison Ford, it would not be an Indy movie if not.

Other cast members have yet to be announced, Shia LaBeouf starred in the last film, Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull as Indy's kid, but the actor has gone off the rails of late.

Karen Allen was also in the last movie which saw her character and Indy get married so there is room for her to appear as well.

The last film, despite being not that bad, was received with unfavourable reviews and split opinion between fans, but Disney reunited Star Wars fans with The Force Awakens so they could do the same here.

2019 is a ways away yet so expect more details to dribble out between now and closer to the time.

The summers is well and truly over so let's look back at which movies were the biggest over the summer period in the UK, and the surprise hit that kept the big budget films at bay.

Before the summer started it was expected in the UK that there would be a title fight for 2008 between the Batman movie The Dark Knight (or the Joker movie depending on your view) and Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, although these films gave a really good run for their money it was a more gentle film with a fraction of the budget which has drawn the crowds at the box office.

The year has seen sleeper hit Mamma Mia! take the summer crown at the box office, a film based on the stage play of the same name, it is basically a platform the music of ABBA taking the narrative through a love story about marriage and long lost love. There are no guns or big action set pieces in the film, and Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan lend their voices to various hits from the Swedish group during the movie.

Although it could have been predicted that the film would do well with all the ABBA fans in the UK it has been a runaway success and 10 weeks after release the film has not been outside the top 3 film on the UK box office spending most of it's time at number 2, the film has taken at least a £1 million on each of it's first 10 weeks of release.

With Mama Mia! simply clearing up at the box office who has lost out? It was a year of very little blockbuster on the slate, the biggest of which were expecting to be The Dark Knight and the new Indiana Jones movie, these did well but the bigger of these two, The Dark Knight, is going to be well over £10 million behind the ABBA sing-along.

There is every likelihood that Mamma Mia! will end up as the second biggest grossing film in the UK (behind the 10 year old Titanic) but on the world stage it's been a good ride for the movie but not a great one. An average performer in the US where it made $142 million dollars, which helped boost it's world gross to $498,795,370, it may well get to $500 million before it's end of life.

No surprises to see that the Batman film The Dark Knight is the top grossing film in 2008 taking a staggering $994,896,852, thats £689,395,105 at todays rate of exchange.

The hype surrounding the film was immense as we went into the year and with the sad and untimely death of one of it's stars, Heath Ledger, this gave the film and even greater must see edge, and the film didn't disappoint, Ledger especially.

With The Dark Knight the runaway success it was the second biggest film of the year across the globe was a return of an old friend in the shape of Indiana Jones. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull took an incredible $783,011,114 (£542,544,744), not bad for an old man who's not been seen since 1989.

Third most popular film of the year is also the biggest animated feature of the year and Pixar/Disney had nothing to do with it. Jack Black lends his voice to the Kung Fu Panda which took $633,395,021 (£438,636,528) this year worldwide.

Also making strong numbers throughout the world this year were UK favorites Mamma Mia! with $568,704,210 (£393,821,544) and Quantum of Solace with $540,902,659 (£374,504,077) although both films are still plying in UK cinemas.

Not sure if sleeper hits exist these days, but if they are then this sure as hell is one, Mamma Mia! is a film adaptation of a stage show and it has becomes the biggest film of the year in the UK.

With a gross of £69,130,014 it out grossed the number 2 film by nearly £20 million. Even more remarkable is that Mamma Mia! has now become the biggest film in the UK, topping Titanic's 10 year reign.

Sliding nicely into the runner up spot for the year is the Bond film Quantum of Solace with a UK gross of £50,405,045. Although a good gross the studio may see this as a little disappointing as the last Bond film, Casino Royale, tool £5 million more.

Third on the list is The Dark Knight with £48,685,166, many thought this might have come out on top, but clearly few realised the power of the chick flick during the year.

All three of the top films of the year are in fact still showing in cinemas across the country, despite 2 of them being available on DVD/Blu-ray already.

The rest of the top films of the year are filled by the like of Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull at 4, Sex and the City: The Movie at 5, High School Musical 3 at 7 and Wall-E at 8.

Check out the full list here.