Ever since it was announced that Kenneth Branagh would not be directing the sequel to his hit ‘Thor’, many in Hollywood were making a short list as to who could fill his shoes. In a press release today, Marvel Studios announced that a decision has been made and they have named Patty Jenkins as the director for ‘Thor 2.’
Patty Jenkins will be the first female director for the Marvel Studios superheroes franchise. Patty is best known for her work on ‘Monsters’, a movie that she both wrote and directed and earned Charlize Theron an Oscar. She was also nominated for an Emmy for her work on the pilot episode of AMC’s ‘The Killing’ and has also directed episodes on shows such as ‘Entourage’ and ‘Arrested Development.’ She just recently directed a segment for the Lifetime movie ‘Five.’ The jump from a small film such as ‘Monsters’ (which only had a budget of $8million) to a large blockbuster film like ‘Thor 2’ (whose first installment spent $150million) can be daunting and many are going to keep a close eye on this movie. After all, ‘Thor’ grossed $448 million worldwide. That’s a big number to try to beat with sequels expected to be bigger and better.
The press release also mentioned that the release date of the movie has been pushed back to November 15, 2013. While no reason was given as to why ‘Thor 2’ has been taken off the summer blockbuster time frame; many speculate that Marvel didn’t want to have to deal with the competition. Around that time, Spielberg’s ‘Robopocalypse’, Del Toro’s ‘Pacific Rim’, and Tom Cruise’s ‘Oblivion’ are also scheduled to be released giving the month of July a very crowded arena. Others speculate that with the San Diego Comic Con in July, it would be a great marketing ploy to bring up the hype of the movie at that time using the Comic Con as a jumping off platform.
Either way, with a new director and a new longer time frame to make the movie, let’s hope that ‘Thor 2’ doesn’t fall victim of most sequels and delivers a punch worthy of the realm of Asgard.
