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Disney Gets Control of 'Indiana Jones' Movie Rights from Paramount
by Alex Billington
December 6, 2013
Source: Variety, Deadline
Disney has snapped up rights to another beloved franchise. Variety/Deadline are reporting The Walt Disney Studios and Paramount Pictures have finalized an agreement over rights to the Indiana Jones franchise. Paramount has held onto the rights to Indiana Jones ever since they financed Raiders of the Lost Ark with Steven Spielberg in 1981, securing a five-picture deal in the process. Recently, Disney has been working hard to acquire all our favorite childhood franchises. In this deal they got the "distribution and marketing rights to future films, in addition to retaining its current ownership rights" when they acquired Lucasfilm.
Star Wars, Marvel, Muppets, now Indiana Jones…if Disney just buys the Back to the Future rights, it will own my entire childhood.
— Jason Lynch (@jasonlynch) December 6, 2013
This is big news because it means that Disney, now working directly with Lucasfilm and Spielberg (under his banner DreamWorks), can continue to develop "future Indiana Jones movies" (more?!) without any more legal roadblocks or financial hurdles. Disney has not officially announced another Indiana Jones movie, and there have only been rumors and rumblings of an Indy V, but it seems like this may be yet another strategic move by Disney to gather all the franchises under one roof. This does also mean that the next Indiana Jones will have the Mouse House behind it. For better or worse? Time will tell. The new era of Disney is upon us.
38 Comments
1
Hm...good thing or bad thing?
Xerxexx on Dec 6, 2013
2
It's Probably a good thing.
Sean on Dec 6, 2013
3
It's absolutely a good thing. Now it will continue on with different people at the helm for once.
OfficialJab on Dec 6, 2013
4
Possibly a good thing but overly priced products? I'm not so sure and we all know Disney is notorious for that.
BinaryChaos on Dec 7, 2013
5
All their future films are apparently being released via Netflix so should be fine.
OfficialJab on Dec 7, 2013
6
we'll see, it all depends on what they do next, and how they do it. but monopolies are rarely good things. everyone ready for the Pixar / Star Wars / Indiana Jones cross-over movie?!
son_et_lumiere on Dec 6, 2013
7
The Angry Birds Star Wars Indiana Jones toys are probably rolling off conveyor belts as I type.
Carpola on Dec 6, 2013
8
Did you SEE the last one?! Good thing imo.
avconsumer2 on Dec 8, 2013
9
How are they going to manage fading the Disney castle into the film? Hmmm...
GutsSpill on Dec 6, 2013
10
Disney is Hollywood!
DAVIDPD on Dec 6, 2013
11
The positive: we will see more Indiana Jones, with a potential 5th film (to end on a widely accepted "good" note) and an eventual reboot with a fresh actor. The negative: the first time I see Dr. Jones get a check up from Doc McStuffins and realize they are part of the same universe...according to Disney.
Quanah on Dec 6, 2013
12
a 5th and 6th could work...in theory, you would have the 'younger Indiana Jones trilogy' and the 'older Indiana Jones trilogy'...even though they aren't linked as literal trilogies, they could be spiritual trilogies.
Chris Groves on Dec 6, 2013
14
I'm more happy because Lucas doesn't have any influence on another franchise that started great and then tanked because of him. You can tell by subtle comments from Spielberg and Ford over the years that it was Lucas who delayed the 4th Indy film so much and was responsible for many of the flaws in it. If no Lucas involvement for an Indy V, then bring it on.
LightningB on Dec 6, 2013
15
If Disney can wrestle the future of Indiana Jones away from Paramount, then I'm confident that they will be able to wrestle the original 6 Star Wars films away from Fox, even if it means promising Fox a small percentage of certain profits from here on out. Disney knows that there is some serious money to be made from doing top-dollar restorations of the original trilogy and their original theatrical cuts.
Chris Groves on Dec 6, 2013
16
And if Lucas has a problem with the original cuts being restored, Disney should write him a blank check to produce his 'final cuts' for all 6 films, with as much added CGI and as many new and altered scenes as he wants...and then we can get the most original version of each film along with the 'Final' Lucas version.
Chris Groves on Dec 7, 2013
18
You know the opening of every Indy film, with the Paramount logo dissolving into a mountain/molehill/whatever? They could totally still do that with the Disney logo, with the castle dissolving into a mountain/molehill/whatever! Seriously though, I dunno what to think of this just yet.
Krishna Shenoi on Dec 6, 2013
19
I'm pretty sure that in the distant future, the world will be supplied by only Kirkland and Disney.
grimjob on Dec 6, 2013
20
lol or Amazon
Jim Dawkins on Dec 7, 2013
22
Yea man remember that one time when Amazon forced people to buy their products and forced people to do manual labor for them... Yea me either.
Aaron Burns on Dec 7, 2013
23
Do you think Amazon's working practice is fine Aaron? If you get a manual labour job should you expect to be treated that way? Some people are fine with it, I just think they take it a bit too far on the greedy front. But why stick up for a corporation? Are you of the opinion that if you do unskilled labour you deserve to be treated badly? Like it's part of the job and should be expected?
Carpola on Dec 7, 2013
24
I know they've received a lot of press lately in the UK over the working conditions causing "mental illness." I live in the greater Seattle area and know about a dozen people who work for Amazon. Each one has a different degree of respect for their company without horrendous complaint. Problem is, I think you pointed out something very distinct Carp: they are not very skilled and therefore don't see themselves as deserving of something better. I also know a few Amazon execs. They are perfectly happy in their downtown office and 6 figure salary...as they should be. I digress...
Quanah on Dec 8, 2013
25
And all of our electronics will be Apple (sarcasm). Can't wait to go to the doctor and have him stick an Apple camera up my ass to check my colon while I take Kirkland medication and watch the 27th installment of Indiana Jones starring Dane DeHaan, Oh, it might happen.
Quanah on Dec 8, 2013
26
Disney continues to swallow the entire entertainment industry... Shame.
aclasschris on Dec 6, 2013
27
Not really, just imagine, decades from now...after all of the traditional pursuits for these franchises have been depleted, we may finally get Patton Oswalt's pitch of a Marvel Universe/Star Wars crossover...you can't tell me that wouldn't be worth seeing just for the wild nature of it.
Chris Groves on Dec 7, 2013
28
what have they done thats so bad, may i ask?
rockkicker on Dec 9, 2013
29
FFS, if they can do this, they can get Xmen and Spiderman back from Fox. bite the bullet and buy that shit back, I want my Marvel universe crossover damnit!
Rob on Dec 7, 2013
30
Some guys said it ill say it yo if thry can get Indy they can get at least SpiderMan from Sony or at least co develop. Fox on othrr hand are gonna be bastards
Lee Seymour on Dec 7, 2013
31
Well, Paramount probably sees Indiana Jones as more or less a dead franchise. But Sony and Fox clearly see riches to be made from Spider-Man and X-Men/Fantastic Four. Likewise, what is Fox really going to do with distribution/home market rights to just the first 6 Star Wars films? Especially since all of them but the original film revert to Lucasfilm/Disney in 2021 anyway. So Fox will be in a position where they have the distribution rights to the original film, but have no rights to ANY of the other films, and the production company of the film they own the rights to will be owned by another Studio. For Fox, it would be smarter to try and cut a deal with Disney in exchange for a slice, however small, in the revenues.
Chris Groves on Dec 7, 2013
32
Soon after this Disney will have James Bond, Robocop and Terminator franchise.
BinaryChaos on Dec 7, 2013
33
While i have zero faith in Disney or JJ looking back at the Prequels and Indy 4, it really can't get worse than they already were. I've tried to re-watch the prequels many times but could never do so because i would either throw my remote at the tv or cringe so hard that I wanted to vomit. Indy 4 isn't better and Spielberg knows its crap. So at least that's some sick comfort right there. 🙂
Buzzfunk on Dec 7, 2013
34
They were disappointing but nearly as bad as you're making them out to be...you're trying too hard
Dingo on Dec 8, 2013
35
The homogenization of Hollywood begins.
cobrazombie on Dec 7, 2013
36
This is very good news! Since Disney actually know what they are doing!
Jimmy Love on Dec 7, 2013
37
Indy 4 was an absolute abomination.
Dingo on Dec 8, 2013
38
yup
Justin Edwards on Dec 10, 2013
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