Udvarnoky said:
And from a business standpoint, while I kind of get the strategy of introducing us to the new actor while we're saying goodbye to the old one, there are liabilities as well. Unless Disney's working faster than any of us suspect and are penning the reboot script in tandem, it seems pointless to commit to the new actor so far ahead of time. Approaching the movie with one foot in the "Indiana Jones 5" mindset and another in the reboot seems like a recipe for making neither work. They'll have their work cut out for them without the extra baggage.
The big issue in this thread and this train of thought is that it represents things from a fan's insular view. And it's not the only example in this thread.
I visited this point earlier in this thread. One of the hard questions Disney has to answer is, who is the targeted audience of this film? Us diehard fans who are bound to see this movie no matter what, or the more general audience? Because the latter won't flock to this film if it's not like the ones made before.
Normally, I'd say that having the name "Indiana Jones" in the title would draw in enough casual viewers to turn a profit. In fact, KotCS is a good example of that. Had the same story been told as part of some new or less known franchise, it would have bombed. However, this film won't enjoy the same treatment - because of KotCS. The fourth installment made money for the specific reason that it was an Indiana Jones movie, but let's not kid ourselves, many people walked out of the theater thinking they had not just seen a good movie. It's even something of an acquired taste with us fans, having required multiple viewings to appreciate its finer points.
This is why I encourage the fans on this forum look at places outside this forum, where they can get the sense from the average viewer. As I scour the web for this first response outside diehard fandom, I can see it's... nothing positive. Most seem to think that after a turd like KotCS (their opinion, not mine) and Ford's advanced age, this one's bound to be even greater trainwreck.
Now, this response of course matters for naught if they pull it off and manage to put together a truly good movie with the pieces in their hand. But if they don't, only established fans are going to see it. And that's when things become difficult, because there just aren't enough of us truly enthusiastic fans for this movie to turn profit. A case in point, just look at this joint around you, The Raven. And then compare it to the fan communities of, say, Star Wars.
A Star Wars film can bank on the practicing fans alone and turn in a pretty buck. Now, I don't presume that every enthusiastic Indyfan frequents these boards (and not only because we've certainly dealt our share of ASBOs over the years), but I can still say with some confidence that an Indiana Jones film can not. If one wants a casual to see this movie, it needs to be like the previous films, a grand swashbucking adventure. They won't flock to a piece that's a "study in aging" or otherwise breaks the formula - especially not after having their minds soured by the previous entry. To get them to flock to this film, it needs to fix pretty much everything that made KotCS such a bad film. And one of those things was that Mr. Ford, in their mind, was too old even back then.
Now, Disney... a word of warning. I'm a fan, and if you intend this film to be primarily a Ford vehicle, I'll see it. I will pay for my seat in the theater and buy the DVD.
But... about 80% of those people who paid to see KotCS... will not.