Indiana Jones

Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones

Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones (all photos courtesy of Lucasfilm/Disney).

Indiana Jones hates snakes! If you are aware of that, then you know all about one of the cultural phenomena of our time.

Indiana Jones is the lead character in a series of motion pictures and television series and other media. Here, we have coloring pages of Indiana Jones free and downloadable. The Indiana Jones franchise was created by George Lucas and his company Lucasfilm.

The Walt Disney Company bought the rights to Indiana Jones and now owns them. Throughout its history, Harrison Ford has portrayed Indiana Jones in motion pictures.

In 1992, "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" was the first Indiana Jones television series. It ran for three years.

Dark Horse comics owns the comic book rights to the character of Indiana Jones. There have been a dozen novels featuring Indiana Jones published by Bantam Books and some other novels, including some in German.

The first Indiana Jones video game appeared in 1982. There have been many subsequent Indiana Jones video games. There have been four Indiana Jones films as of this writing:

• Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
• Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

A fifth film is scheduled for release in 2021.

The original name of Indiana Jones was Indiana Smith. That was the name George Lucas originally used for the character when he created it in 1973. Steven Spielberg became involved in the Indiana Smith project in 1977 and managed to convince Lucas to change the name to Indiana Jones.

While "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" was the second film in the franchise, it deals with events of the character that occurred before the first film. Thus, it was a "prequel." The third Indiana Jones film, "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," featured Sean Connery as Indiana's father.

Karen Allen co-starred in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" as Marion Ravenwood. She returned to the franchise in the fourth film, "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." Indiana Jones' full name is Dr. Henry Jones, Jr.

Sean Connery portrayed Henry Jones, Sr., in "Last Crusade" and is referenced in "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." Marcus Brody was played by Denholm Elliot in the first and third films.

John Rhys-Davies played Sallah in the first and third films. Kate Capshaw played Willie Scott in "Temple of Doom."

Other prominent characters were played by Ronald Lacey, Paul Freeman, Wolf Kahler, Jonathan Ke Quan, Amrish Puri, Julian Glover, Alison Doody, Michael Byrne, Ray Winstone, Cate Blanchett, Shia LaBeouf, John Hurt, Igor Jijikine, and Jim Broadbent. Indiana Jones has been played at various ages by River Phoenix, Sean Patrick Flanery, Corey Carrier, George Hall, and Neil Boulane.

Steven Spielberg has directed every Indiana Jones film, including the fifth one released in 2021. The only actor who has appeared in every Indiana Jones film is Harrison Ford.

The Indiana Jones franchise has won seven Academy Awards and has been nominated for seven others. There is a line of Indiana Jones children's novels published by Ballantine Books.

There are several Indiana Jones attractions in Disney theme parks, including the "Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!" at Disney's Hollywood Studios. There also are numerous Indiana Jones toys.

There even is an Indiana Jones pinball machine. Indiana Jones ultimately married his girlfriend, Marion Ravenwood.

Indiana Jones has a son, Henry "Mutt" Jones III. He was played by Shia LaBeouf in "Crystal Skull." Daniel Craig, Christopher Lee, Bob Peck, Jeffrey Wright, Marc Warren, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Elizabeth Hurley, Anne Heche, Vanessa Redgrave, Julian Fellowes, Timothy Spall, and even Harrison Ford played characters in the "Chronicles" TV series. Ford, of course, played Indiana Jones.

The Indiana Jones film franchise is one of the most successful in film history. The first four films released from 1981 to 2008 grossed $1.984 billion worldwide, including $942 million in North America. Paramount Pictures distributed the first four Indiana Jones motion pictures. Since it now owns the rights, Disney is the distributor for the fifth Indiana film.

John Williams has been the composer for all five Indiana Jones films. Indiana Jones video games have been released every so often since the first one, called "Raiders of the Lost Ark," was made by Atari in 1982.

There have been two Lego Indiana Jones video games, Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures (2008, LucasArts) and Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues (2009, LucasArts). Those are the most recent Indiana Jones video games as of this writing. Role-playing games have become popular. There have been two Indiana Jones Role-playing games,  The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game designed and published by TSR, Inc. under license in 1984 and The World of Indiana Jones by West End Games.

The Indiana Jones franchise shows no signs of becoming less popular or dying. Harrison Ford seems eager to play the character and may continue to do that in future films even beyond the fifth entry.

2020