Indiana Jones is an American media franchise based on the adventures of Dr. Henry Walton “Indiana” Jones, Jr., a fictional professor of archaeology. It began in 1981 with the film Raiders of the Lost Ark. A prequel, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, followed in 1984, and a sequel, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, was released in 1989. A fourth film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, was released in 2008, and was the last in the series to be distributed by Paramount Pictures. A fifth film is scheduled to be released in mid-2021. The series was created by George Lucas, and its films are directed by Steven Spielberg and star Harrison Ford as the title character. The Walt Disney Company has owned the Indiana Jones intellectual property since its acquisition of Lucasfilm, the series’ production company, in 2012. Paramount retains the distribution rights to the first four films and television series.