When told about the concept Ford merely smirked and said “Till they tell me otherwise, I will continue to be Indiana Jones." Shia Lebeouf seemed surprised by the concept and said it would depend on how audiences received his character, but added “If [Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull] received well, I don't imagine they would stop making them.” A diplomatic comment to be sure, but also a very truthful one.

Indy’s latest adventure premiered last weekend at Cannes and while it received mixed reviews, the general consensus was that the film is at least a respectable addition to the franchise. The movie will inevitably be a hit, that goes without saying, so another sequel is certainly in the cards. It took almost 20 years for this for this latest entry to hit the screen, so hopefully it won’t take quite as long for the next one to be released. Spielberg’s plate is certainly full at the moment with Chicago 7 and Abraham Lincoln bio-pics lined up as well as a full Tintin trilogy planned, so he might not be available for a while. But if George Lucas is determined, the project will happen. This is a man who is releasing a CGI Star Wars: Clone Wars movie this summer, despite the fact that he already completed his prequel trilogy and a animated television series with the same title and subject matter. If record profits pile in from the box office this weekend, screenplays for a LaBeouf-centric sequel will probably start being written next week.–PB, News Extensions