How Disney Should Make Indiana Jones 5

Indy is plotting a comeback and he has a lot of making up to do.

Somewhere between the nuke-proof fridge and those CGI monkeys, his last outing in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull became a farcical mess, and the fans weren't happy.

Harrison Ford's part-time teacher will be pushing 80 by the time the next sequel arrives in 2020, but still, there are reasons to be upbeat about its prospects.

Disney purchased the rights to LucasFilm for a cool $4 billion in 2012, and the House of Mouse's efforts to revitalise Star Wars have since been a resounding success.

The Force Awakens was mostly fan-pleasing and Rogue One absolutely was, so what's to say Disney's infinite resources won't do the same for Indy?

And as for Harrison, if he's in good enough shape to pilot the Millennium Falcon, outrun galactic bounty hunters and take a Lightsaber through the chest, then who are we to say he's too old to wield the whip for one final hurrah?

There are lessons to be learned from how the nuke-proof refrigerator and computerised aliens went down.

Indiana Jones, for the most part, should remain grounded by embracing real locations and set pieces that evoke its pulp movie roots without descending into parody.

The series has always been about stumbling upon pockets of mysticism within the real world, but Crystal Skull's introduction of other worlds and planets clashed with its lore.

The audience is willing to suspend its disbelief when light fantasy elements are thrown into the mix because the universe the franchise exists within is otherwise credible. Adding flying saucers to the equation compromised this.

The first three Indiana Jones movies walked a tightrope between thrillingly plausible and over-the-top where its trademark action set pieces were concerned, yet Crystal Skull found no such balance and plunged into the chasm below.

Stick to the ancient temples and historical backdrops, and avoid the temptation to ride motorcycles through college campuses and nuke household appliances.