Indiana Jones is an American media franchise based on the adventures of Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., a fictional professor of archaeology, that began in 1981 with the film Raiders of the Lost Ark. In 1984, a prequel, The Temple of Doom, was released, and in 1989, a sequel, The Last Crusade. A fourth film followed in 2008, titled The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. A fifth and final film, titled The Dial of Destiny, is in production and is scheduled to be released in 2023. The series was created by George Lucas and stars Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. The first four films were directed by Steven Spielberg, who worked closely with Lucas during their production.

In 1992, the franchise expanded to a television series with The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, portraying the character in his childhood and youth, and including adventures with his parents.

Marvel Comics began publishing The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones in 1983, and Dark Horse Comics gained the comic book rights to the character in 1991. Novelizations of the films have been published, as well as many novels with original adventures, including a series of German novels by Wolfgang Hohlbein, twelve novels set before the films published by Bantam Books, and a series set during the character's childhood inspired by the television show.

Numerous Indiana Jones video games have been released since 1982.

Background
During 1973, George Lucas wrote The Adventures of Indiana Smith. Like Star Wars, it was an opportunity to create a modern version of the movie serials of the 1930s and 1940s. Lucas discussed the concept with Philip Kaufman, who worked with him for several weeks and decided upon the Ark of the Covenant as the MacGuffin. The project was stalled when Clint Eastwood hired Kaufman to write The Outlaw Josey Wales. In May 1977, Lucas was in Maui, trying to escape the worldwide success of Star Wars. His friend and colleague Steven Spielberg was also there, on vacation from work on Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Spielberg told Lucas he was interested in making a James Bond film, but Lucas told him of an idea "better than James Bond", outlining the plot of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Spielberg loved it, calling it "a James Bond film without the hardware", and had the character's surname changed to Jones. Spielberg and Lucas made a deal with Paramount Pictures for five Indiana Jones films.

Spielberg and Lucas aimed to make Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom much darker, because of their personal moods following their respective breakups and divorces. Lucas made the film a prequel as he did not want the Nazis to be the villains again. He had ideas regarding the Monkey King and a haunted castle, but eventually created the Sankara Stones, that would be used in the film. He hired Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz to write the script as he knew of their interest in Indian culture. The major scenes that were dropped from Raiders of the Lost Ark were included in this film: an escape using a giant rolling gong as a shield, a fall out of a plane in a raft, and a mine cart chase. For the third film, Spielberg revisited the Monkey King and haunted castle concepts, before Lucas suggested the Holy Grail. Spielberg had previously rejected this as too ethereal, but then devised a father-son story and decided that "The Grail that everybody seeks could be a metaphor for a son seeking reconciliation with a father and a father seeking reconciliation with a son."

Following the 1989 release of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Lucas let the series end as he felt he could not think of a good plot device to drive the next installment and chose instead to produce The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, which explored the character in his early years. Ford played Indiana in one episode, narrating his adventures in 1920 Chicago. When Lucas shot Ford's role in December 1992, he realized that the scene opened up the possibility of a film with an older Indiana set in the 1950s. The film could reflect a science fiction 1950s B-movie, with aliens as the plot device. Ford disliked the new angle, telling Lucas: "No way am I being in a Steven Spielberg movie like that." Spielberg himself, who depicted aliens in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, resisted it. Lucas devised a story, which Jeb Stuart turned into a script from October 1993 to May 1994. Lucas wanted Indiana to get married, which would allow Henry Jones Sr. to return, expressing concern over whether his son is happy with what he has accomplished. After learning that Joseph Stalin was interested in psychic warfare, Lucas decided to have Russians as the villains and the aliens to have psychic powers. Following Stuart's next draft, Lucas hired Last Crusade writer Jeffrey Boam to write the next three versions, the last of which was completed in March 1996. Three months later, Independence Day was released, and Spielberg told Lucas he would not make another alien invasion film (or at least not until War of the Worlds in 2005). Lucas decided to focus on the Star Wars prequels instead.

In 2000, Spielberg's son asked when the next Indiana Jones film would be released, which made him interested in reviving the project. The same year, Ford, Lucas, Spielberg, Frank Marshall, and Kathleen Kennedy met during the American Film Institute's tribute to Ford, and decided they wanted to enjoy the experience of making an Indiana Jones film again. Spielberg also found returning to the series a respite from his many dark films during this period. Spielberg and Lucas discussed the central idea of a B-movie involving aliens, and Lucas suggested using crystal skulls to ground the idea. Lucas found these artifacts as fascinating as the Ark, and had intended to feature them for a Young Indiana Jones episode before the show's cancellation. M. Night Shyamalan was hired to write for an intended 2002 shoot, but he was overwhelmed by the task, and claimed it was difficult to get Ford, Spielberg, and Lucas to focus. Stephen Gaghan and Tom Stoppard were also approached.

Frank Darabont, who wrote various Young Indiana Jones episodes, was hired to write in May 2002. His script, titled Indiana Jones and the City of Gods, was set in the 1950s, with ex-Nazis pursuing Jones. Spielberg conceived the idea because of real-life figures such as Juan Perón in Argentina, who allegedly protected Nazi war criminals. Darabont claimed Spielberg loved the script, but Lucas had issues with it, and decided to take over writing himself. Lucas and Spielberg acknowledged that the 1950s setting could not ignore the Cold War, and the Russians were more plausible villains. Spielberg decided he could not satirize the Nazis after directing Schindler's List, while Ford felt "We plum wore the Nazis out." Darabont's main contribution was reintroducing Marion Ravenwood as Indiana's love interest, but he gave them a 13-year-old daughter, which Spielberg decided was too similar to The Lost World: Jurassic Park.

Jeff Nathanson met with Spielberg and Lucas in August 2004, and turned in the next drafts in October and November 2005, titled The Atomic Ants. David Koepp continued on from there, giving his script the subtitle Destroyer of Worlds, based on the J. Robert Oppenheimer quote. It was changed to Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, as Spielberg found this a more inviting title which actually named the plot device. Koepp wanted to depict the character of Mutt as a nerd, but Lucas refused, explaining he had to resemble Marlon Brando in The Wild One; "he needs to be what Indiana Jones's father thought of  – the curse returns in the form of his own son – he's everything a father can't stand". Koepp collaborated with Lawrence Kasdan on the film's "love dialogue".

The Walt Disney Company has owned the Indiana Jones intellectual property since its acquisition of Lucasfilm, the series' production company, in 2012, when Lucas sold it for $4 billion. Walt Disney Studios owns the distribution and marketing rights to future Indiana Jones films since 2013, with Paramount retaining the distribution rights to the first four films and receiving "financial participation" from any additional films. Disney will distribute the fifth film Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, which will be directed by James Mangold and produced by Spielberg.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Main article: Raiders of the Lost Ark
The first film is set in 1936. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is hired by government agents to locate the Ark of the Covenant, the gold plated chest containing the stone tablets Moses used to inscribe the Ten Commandments before the Nazi Germans steal it for themselves. The Nazis have teams searching for religious artefacts, including the Ark, which is rumored to make an army that carries the Ark before it invincible. The Nazis are being helped by Indiana's arch-rival and French archaeologist René Belloq (Paul Freeman). With the help of his former lover and tough bar owner Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) and his excavator friend Sallah (John Rhys-Davies), Indiana manages to recover the Ark in Egypt. The Nazis steal the Ark and capture Indiana and Marion. Belloq and the Nazis perform a ceremony to open the Ark, but when they do so, all they find inside is sand. Suddenly, spirits come out of the Ark and the Nazis are all killed by the Ark's wrath. Indiana and Marion, who survived by closing their eyes, manage to get the Ark to the United States, where it is stored in a secret government warehouse.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
Main article: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
The second film is a prequel set in 1935, a year before Raiders of the Lost Ark. Indiana escapes Chinese gangsters led by Lao Che with the help of singer/actress Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw) and his twelve-year-old sidekick Short Round (Ke Huy Quan). The trio crash-land in India, where they come across a Punjabi village whose children have been kidnapped. The Thuggee cult led by Mola Ram (Amrish Puri) has also taken the holy Sankara Stones, which they will use to take over the world. Indiana manages to overcome Mola Ram's evil power, rescues the children and returns the stones to their rightful place, overcoming his own mercenary nature. The film has been noted as an outlier in the franchise, as it does not feature Indy's university or any antagonistic political entity, and is less focused on archaeology, being presented as a dark movie with gross-out elements, human sacrifice and torture.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
Main article: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
The third film is set in 1938. Indiana and his friend Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliott) are assigned by American businessman Walter Donovan (Julian Glover) to find the Holy Grail. They are teamed up with Dr. Elsa Schneider (Alison Doody), following on from where Indiana's estranged father Henry (Sean Connery) left off before he disappeared. It transpires that Donovan and Elsa are in league with the Nazis, who captured Henry Jones in order to get Indiana to help them find the Grail. However, Indiana recovers his father's diary filled with his research, and manages to rescue him before finding the location of the Grail. Both Donovan and Elsa fall to the temptation of the Grail, while Indiana and Henry realize that their relationship with each other is more important than finding the relic.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
Main article: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
The fourth film is set in 1957, nineteen years after The Last Crusade. Indiana is having a quiet life teaching before being thrust into a new adventure. He races against agents of the Soviet Union, led by Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) for a crystal skull. His journey takes him across Nevada, Connecticut, Peru, and the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. Indiana is faced with betrayal by one of his best friends, Mac (Ray Winstone), is introduced to a greaser named Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf), who turns out to be his son (his real name revealed to be Henry Jones III), and is reunited with, and eventually marries, Marion Ravenwood, who was the lead female character introduced in the first movie.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)
Main article: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
A fifth film, set in 1969, is scheduled for release on June 30, 2023. The film is being directed by James Mangold, who wrote the script with Jez and John-Henry Butterworth. Spielberg was initially set to direct the film, before passing it to Mangold. Spielberg instead serves as a producer, along with Kennedy and Marshall. Ford reprises the title role, and new cast members include Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Kretschmann, Boyd Holbrook, Shaunette Renée Wilson, Toby Jones and Antonio Banderas. Development of the film began in 2008, but the project stalled for years. Filming eventually began in the United Kingdom in June 2021 and wrapped in February 2022.

Instruction: Given this paragraph about Indiana Jones, tell me who starred in the franchise films with Harrison Ford
Response: The American media franchise, Indiana Jones, includes five film releases.  The first film release, Raiders of the  Last Ark included co-stars Paul Freeman, as Rene Bellow, Karen Allen, as Marion Ravenwood, and John Rhys-Davies, as Sallah.  The second film release, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom included co-stars Kate Capshaw, as Willie Scott, Ke Huy Quan as Short Round, and Amris Puri, as Mola Ram.  The third film release, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade included co-stars Denholm Elliott as Marcus Brody, Julian Glover as Walter Donovan, Alison Doody as Dr. Elsa Schneider, and Sean Connery as Henry Jones.  The fourth film release, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull included co-stars Cate Blanchett as Irina Spalko, Ray Winstone as Mac and Shia LaBeouf as Mutt Williams.  The fifth and final film release, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, is scheduled to be released in June 30, 2023 and currently includes co-stars include Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Kretschmann, Boyd Holbrook, Shaunette Renée Wilson, Toby Jones and Antonio Banderas.