Harrison Ford is set to star in a new instalment of the iconic Indiana Jones franchise, Disney have announced.

Ford, 78, who uttered the famous line “it’s not the years, it’s the mileage” is set to step back into the shoes of the archaeology adventure hero.

Disney revealed the news during a briefing for investors and said the film will be helmed by director James Mangold.

The same presentation revealed there are plans for a number of Star Wars spin offs and new films in the Marvel series.

No details have been released about the script of the film but it is due for release in 2022.

Harrison Ford appeared in the first instalment with Raiders of the Lost Ark released in 1981. That was followed in 1984 by Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, then Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in 1989. The fourth instalment was released in 2008 and saw him battling with aliens in the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

The fifth edition has already been in pre-production as several screenwriters have come and gone – it was further stalled by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The new Indiana Jones film is among a wealth of forthcoming content highlighted by the Walt Disney Company.

Disney announced last night that it had surpassed 137m subscriptions, and announced a new slate of content.

It includes Star Wars films (including the return of Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen), revisiting the Willow series with Warwick Davies, a new Sister Act film starring Whoopi Goldberg, reboots of Three Men And a Baby, and Pixar’s first long-form animated series, Win or Lose (2023).

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is also set to expand, with “dozens” of upcoming projects including Secret Invasion, starring Samuel L Jackson.

The Walt Disney Company said that “after greatly exceeding expectations”, it now expects its streaming services to hit 300-350 million total subscriptions by 2024, driven primarily by a significant increase in content output. Disney+ alone is targeting to release more than 100 titles per year

Additional reporting by Aoife Barry.