News
Will Indiana Jones Return In 2018?!
Ain’t It Cool News is reporting on information from a trusted source that Lucasfilm has tentatively penciled in a 4th quarter 2018 release for a fifth Indiana Jones film. No specific release date or month is given, but with the Star Wars franchise moving out of December after 2016, you can bet that they will be targeting a December 2018 release if the current loose plan holds. The return of Indy is inevitable at this point and was destined to become a “must” for Lucasfilm after they got Star Wars up and running again. Well folks, the Millennium Falcon is flying once more, so it’s Dr. Jones’ turn to ride again.
Of course there’s no guarantee that Indiana Jones 5 actually WILL hit theaters in three and a half years time. Kathleen Kennedy is one smart cookie and knows the risk of rushing things. Rumors are constantly swirling about an Indy revival. Some are partially legit. Others nothing more than fanboy daydreams. Will Harrison Ford reprise the role? Will Spielberg return to the helm? Or will both gentlemen step aside for a new generation, consult, and collect nice producing checks for their troubles?
According to our own sources, the latter is more likely than the former at this point. Ford is in the midst of reviving Han Solo (for how long, we don’t know) and Spielberg’s plate is always full, so a final re-teaming for another “old Indy” adventure isn’t something as likely to happen now as it might have been five years ago. Chances are, they will indeed step aside and if that is the route taken, our sources tell us that Lucasfilm will taken their time in choosing a new director, writers, and…most importantly…a new lead actor to pick up the whip and hat as the franchise moves into the future.
Will the latter be the oft-rumored Chris Pratt? Anything is possible, but I honestly very much doubt it. Between being signed for FIVE more Guardians of the Galaxy films and probably two Jurassic World follow-ups, in addition to the chances of other films he is making becoming franchises (The Magnificent Seven, Cowboy Ninja Viking), I’d say Mr. Pratt is booked solid when it comes to multi-film contracts for at least the next decade or so. As always, we will keep you posted.
While we wait, what artifact and/or subgenre would you like to see Henry Jones Jr. tackle next time ’round, whether he’s young or old? Personally (and obviously), I’ve always been interested in seeing the franchise skew a bit more horror than it already has, perhaps going for a slight 1930/1940s Universal Monsters vibe? Granted Sommers already mined that territory a bit with his Indy-lite remake of The Mummy, but there are still plenty of other similar areas to explore. Curses, vampirism, cannibalism, the undead, more witchcraft, etc. What say you?
All of us here at Bloody Disgusting are deeply saddened to learn that George A. Romero Foundation Founder and President Suzanne Desrocher-Romero has passed away.
GARF shared in a statement on socials, “It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of Suzanne Desrocher Romero. Suzanne passed away of natural causes on June 24 at her home in Toronto after a prolonged illness.”
The statement continues, “Suzanne was the fierce leader of the George A. Romero Estate and The George A. Romero Foundation. She worked tirelessly to preserve George’s legacy. Her work at the foundation will continue to inspire and live on for generations to come. The family asks for privacy at this time.”
Desrocher-Romero founded GARF in 2018, after her late husband’s passing in 2017, and has been a fierce advocate for his legacy and the arts. It was her mission to “strengthen horror as a serious field of global study,” and she was a tremendous fighter on behalf of Romero’s works and supporting new filmmakers inspired by his legacy.
It was Desrocher-Romero who spearheaded the recovery and restoration of The Amusement Park, and, as the person in charge of the George A. Romero estate, worked closely with author Daniel Kraus on completing unfinished novels like Pay the Piper and The Living Dead. She most recently celebrated the restoration of her favorite of Romero’s zombie films, Day of the Dead, and was hard at work producing the upcoming film Twilight of the Dead.
That passionate advocacy led to Suzanne Desrocher-Romero becoming family to Bloody Disgusting as well.
2023 marked the start of an ongoing partnership between Bloody FM and GARF on The Dead, a scripted audio series spanning multiple seasons that saw Desrocher-Romero working closely with the Bloody FM team and mentoring the series’s contributing writers with GARF. To say her loss will be felt internally is an understatement.
“Anytime George Romero is mentioned is good, because what we are doing is to provide a healthy legacy. We’re uplifting his legacy, we’re supporting the archive, and we’re also supporting the Horror Study Center. So, all of these three things are what the Foundation is striving to do. As far as I’m concerned, the more we say George Romero’s name, the better it is,” Desrocher-Romero recently told BD.
It’s the perfect encapsulation of her unwavering enthusiasm for supporting Romero’s legacy and the horror genre, and just a glimpse at how much she contributed to preserving it. She is, in short, an inspiration.
We send our deepest condolences to Suzanne Desrocher-Romero’s family, friends, and GARF.
You must be logged in to post a comment.