The Indiana Jones franchise has definitely seen better days. The latest film in the franchise, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, has vastly underperformed at the global box office. Despite bringing in over $312 Million since its release the film had an estimated budget before marketing of $300 Million, making it one of the most expensive films ever made.
However, not only is the latest film hurting the franchise at the box office, but now in the courtroom as Lucasfilm now faces legal action regarding Indiana Jones’ backpack that he used in the film.
The lawsuit regards American clothing company Frost River over Indiana Jones (Played by: Harrison Ford) using their trademarked “Geologist Pack” in the latest film. In addition, Lucasfilm has teamed up with their competitor Filson to promote their line of products, and their backpack was featured in a (now deleted) Filson commercial.
Devin McRae, a lawyer of Frost River, made the following statement:
“Lucasfilm and Filson produced a 60 second commercial prominently featuring video clips from the Indiana Jones 5 film intertwined with video clips of actors using Filson’s own products. Shockingly, one of the intertwined video clips was one from Indiana Jones 5 featuring Frost River’s Geologist Pack.“
While it isn’t uncommon for a production to use certain products without specific permission, it is rather odd that they used a specific brand of bag in the film and instead marketed another bag from a different company. Wouldn’t you want to use a movie-accurate bag?
Disney is no stranger to lawsuits regarding similarities. The 2020 animated Pixar film Onward faced legal action regarding the exterior design for the protagonist’s van. The artist of a real-life van sued and was most likely given “go away money” to avoid any bad press. Not long after she was talking to the press, she and her complaints went away and no resolution was ever posted.
Something similar might happen in this case. However, with the film not doing all that great, it’s just another expense to add to the list of what Disney lost on the project.
Source: The Hollywood ReporterÂ
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