Disney Plus is now with us but there’s one movie franchise which is mysteriously absent from the streaming platform: Indiana Jones.
I’ve been wanting to rewatch the Indiana Jones movies for quite some time and it can be rather difficult to find these movies legally online.
When Disney Plus was announced and was finally released in the UK, I thought, “Finally, I can watch the Indy movies!”
I was thinking that Disney owned the rights to the Indiana Jones movies (which they do).
However, when I started looking on Disney Plus, I couldn’t find the movies anywhere.
I did find the National Treasure films, however, so I watched those instead.
Incidentally, I recently wrote an article about how those two movies are better than the Indiana Jones movies.
Read the article before claiming that I’m a madman.
Why aren’t the Indiana Jones movies on Disney Plus?
Harrison Ford and Sean Connery in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade – Credit: Disney
Read more: Here’s Why The New Mutants Hasn’t And Probably Won’t Come To Disney Plus
Anyway, back to Indy. Why couldn’t I find them on Disney Plus?
The reason, as it often tends to, has to do with movie studio contracts.
Disney might now own the movie rights to Indiana Jones after purchasing Lucasfilm.
However, they don’t own the streaming rights nor the movie rights to the first four movies.
Disney owns the distribution and marketing rights for all further Indiana Jones movies.
Yet, Paramount Pictures still owns the rights to the original Indiana Jones movies.
This means that Disney can make new Indiana Jones movies, however, they can’t put the old ones on Disney Plus.
When could they end up on Disney Plus?
Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones – Credit: Disney
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That said, this doesn’t mean that Disney might not one day get to put the Indiana Jones movies on Disney Plus.
They have worked out deals like this in the past with other movie studios.
However, Paramount Pictures still seems to do quite well with the first four Indy movies.
They still get the money from people buying the movie on-demand or on Blu-ray.
They also get paid when other platforms such as BBC iPlayer or networks play the movie.
If you live in the UK, you can watch all the Indiana Jones movies via BBC iPlayer, which is how I managed to rewatch them whilst in lockdown.
However, I would have liked to have seen the movies on Disney Plus.
When will Indiana Jones 5 be released?
Harrison Ford and Shia LaBeouf in Indiana Jones And The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – Credit: Lucasfilm
Read more: When Will Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Be Released On Disney Plus?
As for the further of the franchise, it was revealed a while back that Disney is working on a fifth Indy movie.
Hopefully, this upcoming film will be better than Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
They’ve announced that Harrison Ford will return, however, Steven Spielberg won’t be directing the movie.
It was originally scheduled for release in cinemas in July 2019, but you may have noticed that no Indy movie came out then.
The release date was pushed back to July 10th, 2020.
However, Disney ended up pushing Indy 5’s release date yet again to July 9th, 2021.
However, then the whole Coronavirus situation hit, and Disney pushed the date back yet again to July 29th, 2022.
Hopefully, that date will stick and they’ll be able to find a director for it soon.
What do you make of this article?
Would you like to see the Indiana Jones movies come to Disney Plus sometime in the future?
Let us know in the comments below.
The Indiana Jones movies are still yet to be released on Disney Plus and there remains no news as to when they will be released.
But if you are searching for something Indiana Jones related, there are plenty of UK casino slot games related to the heroic Dr Jones.
The character from the slot game Book of Ra is thought to be directly based on the character of Indiana Jones, he even wears the ancient history professor’s iconic brown fedora hat!
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