Steven Spielberg Admits the Indiana Jones Film He Dislikes Most

One of the joys of long-running franchises that are beloved by fans are the discussions that come along with each installment, such as weighing the pros and cons of each entry. The Indiana Jones franchise currently has four films, with plenty of differences between each film that warrant various responses amongst fans over which film is the best. Director Susan Lacy, who helmed the upcoming documentary Spielberg for HBO, claims to New York Daily News that one of the most shocking things she learned about the filmmaker is that, out of all the Indiana Jones films, Spielberg likes Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom the least.

This news isn’t entirely surprising, as The Playlist pointed out that the filmmaker confessed in 1989 to the Sun-Sentinel, “I wasn’t happy with the second film at all. It was too dark, too subterranean, and much too horrific. I thought it out-polteredPoltergeist. There’s not an ounce of my own personal feeling in Temple of Doom.“

The filmmaker, who often explores themes of family and the adventures they embark upon, went into much darker territory with Temple of Doom, a film regularly cited for the creation of the PG-13 rating after it depicted someone tearing the still-beating heart out of someone’s chest with their bare hands. The next film in the franchise, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, saw the titular character, played by Harrison Ford, teaming up with his father, played by Sean Connery, on their quest to discover the Holy Grail.

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Spielberg’s opinions seem to be in the minority, as many audiences cite the most recent installment, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, as the weakest entry. Crystal Skull featured CG effects that were relatively absent from the first three films, which relied much more heavily on practical effects, stop-motion animation, and miniatures to convey its special effects sequences.

The next installment in the franchise is slated to be directed by Speilberg with George Lucas set at the executive producer and Harrison Ford returning to star. The film, which currently doesn’t have a title, aims to land in theaters July 10, 2020.

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Many rumors have swirled about the upcoming Indiana Jones 5‘s plot, with nothing yet confirmed. Spielberg did offer this small nugget of information in June 2016, “The one thing I will tell you is I’m not killing off Harrison [Ford] at the end of it.”

Spielberg will air on HBO on October 7.

Photo Credit: LucasFilm