STEVEN SPIELBERG - SPIELBERG RELUCTANT TO REVIVE INDIANA JONES

SPIELBERG RELUCTANT TO REVIVE INDIANA JONES

STEVEN SPIELBERG dismissed pleas to revive INDIANA JONES for a fourth movie - because he was convinced his ending to the RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK trilogy was perfect.
The legendary moviemaker returned to the set of the Harrison Ford action film for its latest installment, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, to shoot the summer (08) film - 19 years after 1989's The Last Crusade.
Spielberg, 61, admitted it was a struggle to resign to the idea of bringing Indy back to life, but soon changed his mind once the right script was discovered.
He says, "Resistance - in the sense that I made a deal with George in 1977 on the beach in Hawaii to make three of these things if the first one was successful. And to prove to George (Lucas) that I had fulfilled my moral contract, I designed a shot where Harrison (Ford) rode off into the sunset and that's a classic western side off and I thought that was the end."
Paramount bosses have spent a reported $150 million (GBP75 million) marketing the film - set to premiere at France's Cannes Film Festival on Sunday (18May08) ahead of its worldwide 22 May (08) release date. It will be the first of Spielberg's films to debut at the festival since his 1982 Oscar-winning film E.T: The Extra-Terrestrial.