With the arrival of the vast library of content that Disney Plus has brought to subscribers, it’s been noticed that the four Indiana Jones films are nowhere to be seen on the platform and Screenrant delve into the reasons why the intrepid archaeologist is nowhere to be seen.
Even though Disney reached a deal with Paramount for future Indiana Jones distribution and marketing rights, Paramount keeps the rights to the first four movies they released between 1981-2008. Because of that, Paramount controls where the films can stream. Currently, they can all be found on Netflix, as part of Paramount’s licensing deal with the streaming giant.
It is unknown how long Paramount’s agreement with Netflix lasts, but there’s evidence Disney isn’t counting on getting the old Indiana Jones movies any time soon. The missing Star Wars and MCU films can all be found via Disney+’s search function, and list an exact date users can expect to stream them. If one searches for “Indiana Jones” on Disney+, no results come up. That implies there are no plans in place to add Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom, The Last Crusade, and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to Disney+ in the near future. The situation is similar to the MCU’s solo Spider-Man movies, which are Sony’s property. Because Paramount holds the rights to the Indiana Jones movies, it’s up to them what happens. It’s possible the Indiana Jones movies could migrate to Disney+ at some point, once the licensing deal with Netflix expires.
So the door isn’t closed entirely for the man in the hat, but until 2021 and the 5th film is released it may be the case that Indy doesn’t become Disney’s Plus one.
