George Lucas Speaks to USA TODAY About Indiana Jones

Found this report this morning on USA Today. Thoughts?
George Lucas says his new 'Indiana Jones' is 'just a movie'
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Enlarge Paramount Pictures/Lucasfilm

Kingdom comes: Harrison Ford, left, and Shia LaBeouf land in theaters May 22.





Yahoo! Buzz Digg Newsvine Reddit FacebookWhat's this?By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY
To hear him talk, you'd think George Lucas would have preferred to call his movie Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: Don't Get Your Hopes Up.
Lucas, who co-wrote and produced the May 22 film, can sound downright sullen when it comes to his expectations of fan reaction to the year's most highly anticipated movie.

"When you do a movie like this, a sequel that's very, very anticipated, people anticipate ultimately that it's going to be the Second Coming," Lucas says. "And it's not. It's just a movie. Just like the other movies. You probably have fond memories of the other movies. But if you went back and looked at them, they might not hold up the same way your memory holds up."

The remarks appear to be part of a larger strategy to build interest yet temper expectations for the fourth installment of the Indiana Jones franchise. Only one trailer is playing, and when director Steven Spielberg shows up for talk shows, he doesn't bring footage.

Lucas says he learned his lesson about unrealistic expectations when he revived the Star Wars franchise in 1999. "When people approach the new (Indiana Jones), much like they did with Phantom Menace, they have a tendency to be a little harder on it," he says. "You're not going to get a lot of accolades doing a movie like this. All you can do is lose."

I can see where Lucas is coming from with his statement.

When my generation saw the original trilogy we were pre-teenagers and enjoyed the movies fron a young and adventurous mind.

When the 20 somethings saw Episodes 1 they weren't entirely of that same mindset as they were when they were kids.

But the young kids who saw Episodes 1 through 3 saw these movies they enjoyed them as my generation did during the original trilogy.

I am probably one of the few fans that really enjoyed Phantom Menace and really look back at it as reliving the days of Episodes IV through VI.
Jar Jar didn't phase me at all I knew he was there for the kids and didn't let him distract me from enjoying the movie.

I have joked about a little about the new Indiana Jones movie too "Geriatric Jones" but I am really looking forward to May 22nd and am sure it will be enjoyable. I think Harrison actually looks good for his age and from what I have seen in the trailer doesn't look terribly out of his realm putting back on the fedora again.

I know it will be wisked back in time when I hear John Williams music and see the the classic Indiana Jones logo.

This was an interesting article...

Just think, if the Maker had listened to the critics back in the 70's, SW as we know it would have never happened.

I also enjoyed TPM... not my favorite movie by any stretch but, it was a movie with a purpose. How else would we have met Anakin? We needed to know where he came from to build up the to the tragedy of Lord Vader.

Anyway... I can't wait for the new Indy.

age&approach isn't all the time. even if SW1-6 were screened today to 30+ yr olds that have never seen it, i think it will still resonate. good movie is a good movie that holds up over time.

the problem is that lucas loves making these as pulp serials =P. both SW+Indy harken back to the days of 1936-1940s film serials buck rogers&flash gordon. i have seen 3x24episode flash gordons and 1x24episode buck rogers (all from 1936-40). i get what lucas is trying to do, but not everyone does.