In what is the modern-day equivalent of a film getting a fancy new special edition DVD prior to a sequel or a remake, Disney will be adding a slew of “Indiana Jones” content to its Disney+ streaming platform in the lead-up to “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.”
With the fifth Harrison Ford-starring period piece actioner set to premiere in Cannes on May 18 and worldwide on June 30, the platform will host the previous four Steven Spielberg-directed and George Lucas-produced “Indiana Jones” films and the decades-old television episodic beginning May 31.
“Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark,” originally titled just “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” will join “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” and “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.” Alongside those Lucasfilm-produced and Paramount-released blockbusters will be “The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones.”
Airing on ABC in the mid-1990s, “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles” were hour-long episodes showcasing Indy in two stages of his life, as a nine-year-old played by Corey Carrier and a 20-year-old played by Sean Patrick Flanery. The stories concerned Indy making his way through significant moments in history and would be bookended by a 93-year-old Indiana Jones (George Hall). In “Young Indiana Jones and the Mystery of the Blues,” airing over two hours in March of 1993, the bookend was provided by a mere 50-year-old Dr. Henry Jones Jr. again played by Harrison Ford.
The Disney+ versions of this show will be the past-tense adventures as aired but with the bookends removed.
During this availability window, subscribers can buy Indiana Jones-related content at www.shopDisney.com/IndianaJones. Special access will grant Disney+ subscribers early access to products including an Indiana Jones Ear Headband, RSVLTS Apparel, Pin, Funko Pop and more. So if you can’t wait a few more weeks or need a refresher, the mostly complete — not counting the books and video games — chronicles of Dr. Henry Jones Jr. will be available on Disney+ just in time for the James Mangold-helmed sequel.
It will be at least an implicit attempt for audiences to associate the Indiana Jones franchise with Disney. As Disney might say to Paramount, quoting Belloq himself, “So, what was briefly yours is now mine.”
