Harrison Ford Isn’t Upset His Final ‘Indiana Jones’ Movie Flopped: ‘Shit Happens’

Harrison Ford has come to terms with the fan response to Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. The film, released in 2023, marked the actor’s last outing as explorer and onscreen hero Indiana Jones, but it landed with a thud at the box office (and with critics).

“Shit happens,” Ford reflected, speaking to WSJ Magazine. “I was really the one who felt there was another story to tell. When [Indy] had suffered the consequences of the life that he had to live, I wanted one more chance to pick him up and shake the dust off his ass and stick him out there, bereft of some of his vigor, to see what happened.”

The actor, who played the character five times beginning with 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, added, “I’m still happy I made that movie.” The film lost about $143 million, according to Deadline.

Ford previously confirmed that Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, directed by James Mangold, would be his last time playing Indie. “This is the final film in the series, and this is the last time I’ll play the character,” Ford told Total Film magazine in 2023. “I anticipate that it will be the last time that he appears in a film.” Although there has been talk of developing an Indiana Jones TV series, at the time Ford acknowledged that he “will not be involved in that if it does come to fruition.”

In the new interview, Ford also spoke about his work in Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World, out next week. In the film, he plays Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, who is not only the U.S. president but also the Red Hulk. Ford told WSJ Magazine that he accepted the role with “no script.“ “Why not?” he said. “I saw enough Marvels to see actors that I admired having a good time.” 

He added, “I didn’t really know that at the end I would turn into the Red Hulk. Well, it’s like life. You only get so far in the kit until the last page of the instructions is missing.”

Although Ford is appearing in a huge blockbuster film, he said he feels nostalgic for a time when movies made a bigger impact on people. “What I miss, really, truthfully, is the connection [cinema had] to the culture overall,” Ford said. “Now we’re in people’s houses more than we’re in the commons. We work for niche audiences. Which doesn’t lessen the work. But we’re living in a different world, without the comfort of knowing that we’re all in this together.”