Fifth Indiana Jones film moved to 2020

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Harrison Ford dressed as Indiana Jones in 2007Image source, Lucasfilm/Paramount
Image caption,

Harrison Ford was last seen as the daredevil archaeologist in 2008

The release date for the fifth Indiana Jones film has been put back to 10 July 2020 - three days before star Harrison Ford celebrates his 78th birthday.

The as yet untitled film had been set for release in July 2019, but will now appear in cinemas one year later.

Disney has also confirmed that the third film in its current Star Wars trilogy will arrive on 24 May 2019.

A new version of The Lion King will be released on 19 July 2019, while Frozen 2 will arrive on 27 November that year.

Image source, Disney
Image caption,

Frozen, released in 2013, is Disney's biggest animated hit

The fifth Indiana Jones film will arrive 39 years after the original instalment - Raiders of the Lost Ark - and 12 years on from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Ford, now 74, was 65 when Crystal Skull, the most recent instalment in the action adventure franchise, was released in May 2008.

Age has never been a concern for the Steven Spielberg-directed series though. After all, Sir Sean Connery played Indiana's dad in the third film despite being Ford's senior by just 12 years.

Image source, PA/Reuters
Image caption,

James Earl Jones and Donald Glover will play father and son in The Lion King

The May release date of Star Wars: Episode IX - to be directed by Jurassic World's Colin Trevorrow - is notable given that the most recent Star Wars films were both released in December.

The same applies to Star Wars: The Last Jedi - aka Episode VIII - which will arrive in cinemas in December this year.

Elsewhere in Disney's plans, Jon Favreau's live-action version of The Lion King will see Donald Glover play lead lion Simba and James Earl Jones voice his father Mufasa.

And the sequel to the hit animation Frozen will arrive six years after the original.

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