Taika Waititi Signs On To Write And Direct 'Thor 4'
Chris Hemsworth/Instagram

Even though San Diego Comic-Con is about to kick off, some news has surfaced early.  Taika Waititi has inked a deal to write and direct a fourth ‘Thor’ movie.  Meanwhile, his live-action adaptation of the manga/anime ‘Akira’ for Warner Bros. has been put on hold “indefinitely.”  WB reportedly wants to keep Waititi attached and will shift that picture back to allow him to complete ‘Thor 4’ first.

Kenneth Branagh directed the first ‘Thor’ released in 2011, which was a process that Branagh has openly criticized.  He was replaced by Alan Taylor for the sequel,’Thor: The Dark World’.  While Marvel fans generally enjoyed ‘Thor’, ‘The Dark World’ is widely considered one of the lowest points for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  Waititi’s ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ exploded the entire established franchise, wiping out Asgard and many long-running supporting cast members, and starting over as a rollicking, 80s-inspired space adventure, borrowing from the comedic tone of  James Gunn’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’.  That film has permanently changed the depiction of Chris Hemsworth’s Thor in the movies, making him more of the “class clown” and less the stoic straight man.

 

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Of course, ‘Avengers: Endgame’ changed things up, with Thor taking off for parts unknown with the Guardians of the Galaxy.  It’s unclear whether ‘Thor 4’ will come before or after Gunn’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3’, but Gunn is committed to finish ‘The Suicide Squad’ for Warner Bros. before he starts on that picture.

As for ‘Akira’, it is reported that the script had a lot of issues, and although those are said to be mostly cleared up, the timing was getting to be an issue as the more ‘Akira’ was delayed, the tighter the squeeze was between completing that and starting on ‘Thor 4’.  ‘Akira’ had been scheduled to be released on May 21, 2021.

Waititi’s next film is the comedy ‘Jojo Rabbit’, in which the auteur co-stars as Adolf Hitler.  That opens on October 18, 2019.

 

Source: The Hollywood Reporter