The writer and director of Thor: Ragnarok, Taika Waititi, will reprise his role as the creative mind behind the fourth installment of the film. “Ragnarok” brought in a whopping $854 million worldwide in 2017. It’s no wonder Waititi is excited to be back at the reigns.
Unfortunately for Warner Bros., this places their prospects for “Akira” on hold, at least until the completion of “Thor”. Possibly longer. The fourth “Thor” movie in the series has not been given an official release date and still remains unnamed. This has led some to question just why Waititi chose to move on. In fact, the announcement of Taika’s role as director of “Thor 4” appeared to be news to multiple sources at Warner Bros., with Variety reporting that one source was “caught off guard” given that production was originally slated to begin this fall. The remake of the 1988 post-apocalyptic anime was scheduled for a May 21, 2021 release, but there is a good chance that date is going to change.
Honestly, it seems no surprise that Waititi would choose to leave the “Akira” project behind and stick with what works. This is especially true considering the rumors of budget problems, creative differences, and a lack of talent lined up to fill the roles of “Akira”; issues not likely to be faced when working on a Disney/Marvel movie. With Chris Hemsworth likely to take up the mantle of the Asgardian thunder-god once more, Taika already has his star actor lined up. Not to mention he has Disney’s seemingly endless coffers he can pull from.
This would be any creative directors’ dream job. Still, Warner Bros. hopes to continue work on Akira once the “Thor 4” director has completed his newest project. The rest of us will just have to wait and see what happens.
Source: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter
