Jason LaVeris/FilmMagicNicolas Cage has returned a stolen dinosaur skull, and no, this is not the plot of National Treasure 3.
According to Reuters, the star bought a Tyrannosaurus bataar skull for $276K from a gallery, which is being returned to Mongolia. Cage agreed to hand it over after being informed it had been stolen.
The details of the story prove that Cage is a totally standup guy. He did the right thing and made sure the dinosaur skull was returned to the appropriate authorities, and everything is well and good.
Can we just take a moment to recognize a few things?
Cage got a damn dinosaur skull for his house, because that's a thing Nicolas Cage needed in his life.
Granted, the story as a whole makes him seem more like an eccentric collector who had some cash to burn and an interesting idea of what makes a rad centerpiece.
But we'd like to take the dinosaur skull + Cage as a jumping off point for what his next movie should be.
The Oscar-winning actor has taken on epic adventurers and badasses in films like Con Air, Ghost Rider, National Treasure, Kick-Ass... and the list goes on.
Now that we know he wants to be Indiana Jones deep down, we would like to pitch a few plots for Cage and his dinosaur skull-loving self when he returns to the big screen with another surefire hit.
First, the 51-year-old actor may be a bit older than Indiana Jones, or Brendan Fraser's character Rick O'Connell in The Mummy series, but the star has proven he can play captivating treasure seekers before. He's in a franchise called National Treasure. That literally has "treasure" in the name.
We could see Cage taking on a confident collector of Jurassic relics. There have been rumors and reports of Indiana Jones or Mummy reboots in the works. He just needs to wear leather and a cool hat.
It can be like Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, expect replace "Crystal" with "Dinosaur" and make an actual good movie this time instead.
Speaking of Jurassic, Chris Pratt is great and all, but Cage is a real life dinosaur enthusiast.
When we see a Jurassic World sequel, which has already been confirmed, Cage should be there. Pratt has raptor memes, but have you seen Cage's GIF game? The Internet would go nuts over Dinosaur Trainer Nic Cage.
Perhaps we could take Cage's familiarity with dinos and have the Face/Off star face-off with a movie monster.
The Godzilla-Kong cinematic universe could use a dose of signature Cage crazy, screaming lines like: "why did you think this was a good idea?" or "we have to fight back" or "noooooooo arghhhhh whyyyyyyy?!"
Finally, let's just leave this idea right here: Nicolas Cage Time Traveler Movie.
You're welcome, Hollywood. We're sure Cage will take his standard payment, or you can reward him in priceless artifacts.
Either way, please make these happen.