With filming of the fifth instalment of action-adventure franchise Indiana Jones due to start next year, director Steven Spielberg has floated the possibility of a female-fronted version of it – ‘Indiana Joan’, if you will.

After the all-female re-boot of Ghostbusters two years ago and the similar re-vamp Ocean’s Eight coming soon, the Oscar-winning director has suggested that his landmark series could be re-imagined with a woman in the lead role.

“We’d have to change the name from Jones to Joan. And there would be nothing wrong with that,” he told The Sun this week, saying that it might be time that Indiana Jones “took a different form” when the fifth instalment was completed.

Steven SpielbergSteven Spielberg has hinted 'Indiana Jones' could be re-vamped into a female-fronted film

Female-fronted films might have gotten the internet idiot-bots all agitated, but box office takings suggest that they’re helping to keep the film industry booming. The three biggest films of 2017 all had women as the main character: Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Wonder Woman and Beauty and the Beast.

More: Steven Spielberg confirms filming start date for ‘Indiana Jones 5’

Spielberg, who is currently promoting his latest big-screen epic Ready Player One as it enjoys its first week of release, will be starting work on what he calls ‘Indy 5’ around this time next year. In the interview, he said that he has always had a strong moral imperative for equal gender representation, which came from his childhood.

“My mom was strong. She had a voice, she had a very strong opinion. I have been very lucky to be influenced by women, several of whom I have just loved madly — my mom and my wife.”

The next Indiana Jones outing will, rather astoundingly, feature 75 year old Harrison Ford in the lead role once again, but Spielberg said: “This will be Harrison Ford’s last Indiana Jones movie, I am pretty sure, but it will certainly continue after that.”

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