Above, Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. (Photo credit: Paramount Pictures)

By Ryan Faughnder
Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — Walt Disney Studios has bought the marketing and distribution rights for future movies in the “Indiana Jones” franchise from Paramount Pictures, the companies said Friday.

This gives Disney control over the future of the series, adding to the ownership rights it acquired when it bought Lucasfilm in 2012 and clearing the way for the studio to make more “Indiana Jones” movies if it chooses to do so.

Disney declined to comment on the future of the franchise. It also declined to say how much money it paid for the rights.

Paramount will still control distribution of the first four movies, which combined made about $1.95 billion in ticket sales worldwide, not adjusting for inflation.

Paramount will also collect a fee of an undisclosed amount from any future “Indiana Jones” films that get made and released.
The most recent film in the saga, 2008’s “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” ma
de $786.6 million at theaters worldwide.