10 First Draft Movie Ideas Better Than What We Got

6. Mutt Doesn't Exist & Marion Gets More To Do - Indiana Jones & The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull

The Original Idea

Back in May 2002, Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption) was hired to write the prospective fourth Indiana Jones film, and eventually turned in the script for Indiana Jones and the City of Gods.

Though many of the set-pieces from Kingdom of the Crystal Skull had their genesis in this script - yes, the infamous fridge debacle is in there - Indy's widely-loathed son Mutt (Shia LaBeouf) is mercifully nowhere to be seen.

Moreover, the script draws a much stronger focus on Indy's (Harrison Ford) accelerating age rather than mostly ignoring it.

But best of all, a larger role is afforded for Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), who gets to sink her teeth into some meaty action rather than being reduced to birthing the franchise's heir apparent.

But George Lucas ultimately rejected the script and decided to write a treatment himself, which was adapted into a shooting script by David Koepp.

What We Got

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull may have scored decent critical notices, but the fanbase largely scorned it for feeling like a pallid, soulless attempt to shock a corpse back to life.

LaBeouf's Mutt was met with near-universal disdain from fans for feeling like a cynical inclusion intended solely to preserve the series' future - one which backfired spectacularly - and despite the crowd-pleasing appearance of Marion, she doesn't really do much interesting.

Darabont's script may not be perfect, but it reads as so much more creative and true to the franchise than the boilerplate sequel we ended up with.