Indiana Jones Movies in Order

Why this order?

There are only five Indiana Jones films, and for almost everyone the right way in is release order: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Temple of Doom (1984), Last Crusade (1989), Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), and Dial of Destiny (2023). This is how the story was built for audiences, and Raiders remains the cleanest, most confident introduction to Indy. Each film is a self-contained adventure, so you lose almost nothing by watching them as they were made.

The gotcha is the timeline. Temple of Doom (1984) is actually a prequel: it is set in 1935, one year before Raiders, which takes place in 1936. So if you want to follow the events in their in-world chronology, the order becomes Temple of Doom, Raiders, Last Crusade, Crystal Skull, then Dial of Destiny. Only the first two films swap places; the rest already line up because Last Crusade (1938), Crystal Skull (1957), and Dial of Destiny (1969) move steadily forward in time.

Which should you pick? For a first watch, stick with release order. Temple of Doom is darker and more divisive, and Raiders simply sells the character better as an opener. The chronological order is a fun second pass once you already love these movies and want to watch Indy age in real story-time.

If you enjoy this brand of pulp adventure, the obvious neighbors are the Tomb Raider films and The Mummy series, both of which borrow heavily from the Indiana Jones template. Fans of director Steven Spielberg and producer George Lucas will also find clear DNA shared with the original Star Wars trilogy.