Claim: Indiana Jones has been played by Harrison Ford.

The Indiana Jones franchise is an American media franchise based on the adventures of Dr. Henry `` Indiana '' Jones , Jr. , a fictional archaeologist . It began in 1981 with the film Raiders of the Lost Ark. . A prequel , Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom , followed in 1984 , and a sequel , Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade , was released in 1989 . A fourth film , Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull , was released in 2008 , and was the last in the series to be distributed by Paramount Pictures . The series was created by George Lucas ; the films star Harrison Ford and are directed by Steven Spielberg . The Walt Disney Company has owned the Indiana Jones intellectual property since its acquisition of Lucasfilm , the series ' production company , in 2012 . A fifth film is planned for release on July 10 , 2020 , with both Spielberg and Ford returning .   The franchise expanded to television in 1992 with the release of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles , a series featuring adventures the character had as a child as he traveled around the world with his father . Marvel Comics began publishing The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones in 1983 , and Dark Horse Comics earned 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 .