Indy 4 Advance Gossip

Don't believe anything you read about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull based on people who have actually seen it because as far as I know, Steven Spielberg has only shown it to the Cannes Film Festival (read Todd McCarthy's story here). Yes, the movie will show in Cannes, as we initially reported, on May 18. It will screen in the states that same day, just before its global opening May 22. There will be no junket. (Jeffrey Katzenberg will also debut Kung Fu Panda in Cannes, on May 15, in the traditional DreamWorks Animation slot.)

Jeffrey Wells' source for Indiana Jones being 140 minutes is impeccable, he says: composer John Williams. Besides, Spielberg's films have been running long lately. Terminal ran over two hours at 128 minutes; Catch Me If You Can was 141 minutes; and Munich was 164 minutes long. So at least he's going backwards! Slashfilm reports the running times on the Indy films-- "Previous installments ran 115, 118, 127 minutes respectively (and in order from Raiders to Last Crusade)." UPDATE: Wells has run a correction. Producer Frank Marshall has informed Paramount that the movie is just over two hours, including credits.

This amazingly speculative Indy 4 blog post from New York's Vulture fancifully cobbles together the mere suggestion that George Lucas is downplaying the movie, so it must be as bad as Star Wars: Episode 1--The Phantom Menace. This inspires the idea that Shia LaBeouf will prove to be Indy's Jar Jar Binks! Jesus. A headline in search of a story.

By comparison, this item at CHUD is based on actual reporting. The advance buzz on Indy is getting damaging enough that Lucas and Spielberg may want to reconsider the current strategy of waiting until May 18 to show the film to everyone at once. That's a long way off.

Remember, all the controlling behavior on Munich PR only backfired. Spielberg has an old-fashioned view of marketing. He doesn't like how fast-moving everything is now. Saving up for the big reveal can backfire in a huge way, as last year's The Da Vinci Code proved at Cannes. (At least Indy 4 is not slated for opening night.) In other words, you better have the goods. UPDATE: EW talks to Lucas and Spielberg about their take on all things Indy.

Comments

[Edward Wilson]

Da Vinci isn't Indy anymore than Howard is Spielberg.

[Alan]

wait a minute... Shia LaBeouf plays Jar Jar Binks in indy 4? no way. Shia doesn't look anything like Jar Jar.

oh, well. i'm telling everybody

[Drew]

But wait -- Da Vinci Code was the 2nd highest-grossing movie of that year. Sure, it was utter garbage that everyone at Cannes hated (to their credit), but I don't see how it backfired.

[cadavra]

Of course, if you deduct the 12 minutes of end credits, it's not that much longer!