I’m not impressed by the trailer either, and the leaks…if even half of them are true, this could be Disney’s biggest dumpster fire yet.
We know they want to keep the franchise going, but the alleged way they’re wanting to go could hurt profits way more than they realize. We don’t hand the hat and whip off to a new character that no one gives a shit about: we recast Indy in a way that feels…acceptable.
Step 1: Fire Kathleen Kennedy. Out of a cannon and into the sun if possible, but at the very least we need to remove her from having ANY influence or control over this project whatsoever.
Step 2: We bring Ford in as Old Indy.
Step 3: We hire someone to be Young Indy. If we want an existing star, I vote Chris Pratt because I rather like his performances so far and SJWs fucking HATE him, which is always a massive plus. Preferably, though, I’d want to find and bring in an unknown who can really look/act the part and remind us of Harrison Ford in his glory days. We are basically seeing Indy as he remembers himself in his youth.
Step 4: Look at the previous Indy films and realize the best movies stem from his exploration of religious artifacts and myths, and that’s where we take the story for this movie. I like the spear that pierced the side of Christ as our target, but we can find or create other myths for the movie that continue the religious themes.
Step 5: Old Indy narrates a watered-down version of what we see Young Indy going through on-screen. We cut back to the present and Old Indy only periodically and the movie is 90% Young Indy. This is a “passing of the torch” moment of sorts without beating the audience over the head with him literally handing over his gear and saying “It’s all on you now, kid.” We have successfully and believably cast a new Indy to keep the franchise going forward and we’ve left the door open to bring Ford back as Old Indy in future installments if he’s willing/able to.
Step 6: ALL THE PROFIT!
No time travel. No giving the name/title/achievements away to a new character that audiences aren’t invested in. No shitting on the established legacy (outside of maybe erasing Crystal Skull from existence…).