Marvel Studios has found their pick of director for their third Thor solo film, Thor: Ragnarok. Taking charge of the film will be Taika Waititi. The Wrap is reporting that the Kiwi director is in negotiations with Marvel to charge of the upcoming superhero sequel.
Some may recognize Waititi’s name from his work on the popular HBO comedy series Flight of the Conchords as well as some episodes of the British series The Inbetweeners.
On the film side, was nominated for an Academy Award for his 2004 short film Two Cars, One Night and made his feature-length debut with the critically acclaimed Eagle Vs Shark in 2007. Most recently he expanded his 2005 vampire mockumentary short film What We Are In The Dark: Some Interviews With Some Vampires into last year’s critically lauded What We Are In The Dark.
Perhaps you are starting to see a theme here with the majority of Waititi’s work firmly falling into the comedy category. Which makes him a strange candidate for a film who’s subtitle is the Norse word for “apocalypse.” But Marvel has a generally strong track record for picking directors. Remember that before directing the very well received Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the Russo brothers were primarily known as television comedy directors as well. I am willing to give Marvel the benefit of the doubt here, especially considering that Waititi reportedly beat out contenders like Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland), Rawson Marshall Thurber (Dodgeball) and Rob Letterman (Goosebumps) for the job.
Thor: Ragnarok is scheduled to be the last film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase Three cycle of films before the two-part Avengers: Infinity War kicks off, so in addition to dealing with dangling plot threads from 2013’s Thor: The Dark World, Waititi may have some setting up for that film to do as well.
Thor: Ragnarok is scheduled for a July 28, 2017 release.
