The Indiana Jones franchise will live on now that Walt Disney Pictures and Lucasfilm own the full rights to the property, make no mistake – how it will live on, though, is another matter. Recently, the talk around town has been that we could see the role of Dr. Henry Jones Jr. recast for a new installment in the globe-trotting archaeological adventure series, with Guardians of the Galaxy star Chris Pratt reported to be studio executives’ top choice to take the role.

We have not, however, heard much about who might be taking the reins as director on such a reboot of the Indiana Jones movie franchise, though folk like Matthew Vaughn (Kingsman: The Secret Service) have already gone and thrown their names into the ring for consideration. After all, much as George Lucas has now stepped away completely from the Star Wars franchise and won’t be involved with any future movie installments, now might be the time when Steven Spielberg does the same with the Indiana Jones film series, right? Well, maybe not, it would seem.


Deadline is reporting that Spielberg is pushing for Pratt to become the new Indiana Jones (taking over from Harrison Ford) and that the Oscar-winner filmmaker is also interested in directing the movie himself – assuming that he likes the script, that is. However, the site cautions that all this talk is very early days, as there’s not even a screenwriter attached to the project yet – and, as we’ve mentioned in the past, Pratt is a very busy man right now, so his availability might be an issue (though the Parks and Recreation actor has made it clear: if offered the role of Dr. Jones, he’ll certainly give it serious consideration).

Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford filming ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’

Similarly, just earlier today The Daily Mail claimed that Spielberg is lined up to direct Thank You For Your Service, a film adaptation of the book (about Afghanistan and Iraq war vets dealing with PTSD) written by David Finkel and being scripted for the big screen by American Sniper scribe Jason Hall. Spielberg has a history with Hall, as the pair worked together back when Spielberg was attached to direct American Sniper – before he dropped the project over budget concerns for his vision of the Chris Kyle story.

Spielberg is currently in post-production on his Untitled Cold War drama with Tom Hanks to make a Fall 2015 release date; the filmmaker will also be shooting his Roald Dahl novel adaptation The BFG this year, for a Summer 2016 release. Again, the Indiana Jones reboot is still very much in the earliest stages of development, though, and Disney’s CEO Robert Iger has already made it known that the project isn’t being rushed down the pipeline either. So, Spielberg has plenty of time to finish his current projects before returning to the world of Dr. Jones, if he so chooses to.

Not sure giving LucasFilms the rights to "continue" another cult-classic is such a good idea....

I can already smell the prequel scene in which Indie's father finds the infant Indie abandoned in an old tomb with wall paintings of flying saucers abducting Lara Croft and being chased by the millennium falcon..... Not long before he stumbles upon a water well which shows him parts of Indie's future with moments from the classic IJ movies remade in CGI.