You have to spend money on a film, you have two choices; one is based on a 30 year old brand and the other is a more recent, less popular franchise sequel starring an actor that can't seem to get a film to open in cinemas anymore/is seen as a joke...which one do you make?

You don't make both because that's bad for business. You choose Indy. He has the better ROI.

They both cost about $150m-$200m. But Indy grosses $800-$900m whereas NT grosses $400-$500m. Add in marketing, and NT is just not really worth the hassle, especially given the risk over Cage's star power now. Indy = much safer.

You can do your elitist "LOL if you think..." schtick, but until you've read Movie Economics and realise the risk in this scenario, I suggest you be quiet.

You didn't factor in the fact NT was a growing franchise, the fact that OS markets have exploded since the second one came out which could mean a much bigger gross overseas than previous two movies made.

Also IJ4 had decades of anticipation and it kinda disappointed. It had great opening while the rest of its run was simply unimpressive. On the other hand NT movies had good holds (granted they came out during winter and holidays, but still) and both nearly hit a 5 multiplier.


According to Wiki, NT costed $100m, and NT2 costed $130m. IJ4 costed $185m.

I can't find DVD sales for NT, but the last provided number for NT2 on the-numbers is 5.9m back in 2008. IJ4 sold 6.1 million according to the same site. Which puts both in the same ballpark as far as how much people liked those movies. If they ever film IJ5 I could see it go down from IJ4 domestic (even if it's in 3D). OS it will do great. But saying that it makes no sense having similar franchises because one makes more money than the other is downright stupid. It's not like they're putting out IJ movies every year or two. They could've easily been feeding the market by two similar yet different franchises in rotation every one or one and a half year and guess what - THEY WOULD EARN FUCKING MONEY EVERY TIME. And you know that's the point of a movie industry. To earn money. You don't give up on a franchise while it earns money. Don't you see how studios are desperate to find franchises they sometime risk and make a sequel to a movie that barely made even in hopes it will broaden audience and become big.

Also Cage's current (non)appeal doesn't make NT sequels risky. It's not like his BO draw wasn't spotty before, between and after NT movies. Obviously those movies hit it with the audience for reasons more than just pure Cage star power draw.

For NT, it's been too long. This wasn't a beloved franchise - for this they needed to have released one a few years after. For Indy, it's never too long. Indy 4 showed us that.

Therefore NT is a risk, but Indy 5 is not.

BTW a new Indy movie might not be as beneficial now that Ford will no longer be part of it. I still believe it will do good numbers if they give a good trailer and choose a REALLY good actor but I believe both would almost do the same numbers now.

I don't think it's confirmed that Ford will not be part of it.

Even if Ford is in IJ5 it will be in such a small capacity. He's too old for stunts and action these days.

Agreed.

IJ5 is Shia's, but I also feel that Shia has been trying harder and harder to distance himself from the blockbuster fare that made him famous, so I doubt that IJ5 will be his vehicle now. He played a pretty good game actually. Get famous with crap, then concentrate very hard on making a name as an 'ac-tor'.

At Thanksgiving, my housemates and I were talking about how Spielberg & Co. missed a huge opportunity by not casting, say, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Mutt. It probably would not have improved most viewers' opinions of the fourth film overall, but at least it would be much, much easier (and more encouraging) to see Lucasfilm and Disney moving forward with JGL than with Shia LaBeouf.

As for National Treasure 3, it does really surprise me that it wasn't made for 2010. A sequel to two movies that made quite a lot of money seems like a slam-dunk, whereas the prospects of The Sorcerer's Apprentice always appeared to be shaky, to say the least. Hindsight may be 20/20, but it wouldn't have taken much thought to figure out that National Treasure 3 would have had much higher earning potential.

I figure TSA logic was to try and make another franchise caliber hit. You hit on a film like that or The Lone Ranger and it means 3 films and huge WW play.

NT3 will get made.

Shia is a bigger draw than JGL, though.

I just read that they want to make it but they can't come up with a good story. Since Disney has so many franchises now and flat out owns the Indiana Jones franchise I wonder if they will return to this series. Personally I think the NT movies were better Indiana Jones movies than the actual fourth Indiana Jones movie.

just realized this will likely never happen since Disney now has Indiana Jones himself

This was obvious. Cage has fallen completely out of favor with studios. They use to deal with his lavish lifestyle and major eccentricities, but that's because audiences still would see him. He seems contempt with the small 3-5 million pay checks per film. I'm sure down the line he will get a Tarantino like resurrection, but studio backing is done for him. He's was like that before, it was that 1995-2007 period that he just happened to become a movie star. the money issue killed him TBH

Still, it is fairly unusual to dropthe franchise given that the last movie was such a huge success.

What does his own lavish lifestyle have to do with financing a successful movie?

Demands on set, shoot delays, etc. That all costs extra. I'm not talking NT3 though. I do think that it's easily a safe win and can do Mummy3, RH3 numbers. It's other big budget films, he's done.

Since when has that become an excuse for not making a sequel?

Well the second film was stupid as shit. All they have to go on what "page 46" they are treasure hunters and already covered Americans and Indians, what else is there to make up? Maybe the south during the civil war

Word from Jerry Bruckheimer is that they are working on a script so the 3rd film looks more likely to be made:

https://comicbook.com/movies/news/natio ... uckheimer/

They should do an Unchartered / NT mash up. Holland + Cage would be fun.

Cage said they weren't gonna do a NT3 during his AMA a few months ago. But it makes too much sense to not put out a third. We need to bring adventures back!

NT3 could capitalize on ealry 2000's nostalgia to a 65/175m type run like Pirates 5