I have a question:
Why did they announce Indy 5 so soon? As I recall, we had tons of rumors, but no official confirmation of KOTCS being in production until January 2007 - only a year and a half before it came out. I am like 99% certain I remember there being the official announcement around early-mid January of that year, and before that, we only had whispers, rumors and speculation. And cameras had only just started rolling, or were about to, when we got the news.
So the question is, why, when we're not even really in pre-production even, we're in the early concept phase - they don't even have a firm script yet, just a ton of ideas - Why announce it when it's three years away from release, and two years away from even being filmed? Why put a firm release date down when there probably isn't even a first draft script or even a story synopsis written?
I don't mean to sound morbid, but a lot can happen between today and the film's shooting year, 2018. This year, and last, have been pretty brutal in terms of celebrity deaths, and Harrison isn't getting any younger. Again, I'm not trying to be morbid, just realistic.|
Also, why push it so far down the road? Is 2018 really the earliest Spielberg and Harrison will be available to shoot this thing? As I see it, Steven began shooting one film this year, and will probably wrap production early next year. He has his long awaited other project which he'll film next year - but shouldn't Indy 5 take precedence in the lineup, given the ages of everyone involved and the fact that it's more important financially? If so, we'd have Indy 5 a year earlier at least. It'd be a two year wait rather than three.