Marvel Studios took a calculated risk by hiring Taika Waititi to write and direct Thor: Ragnarok, as his highest-grossing film before joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe was Hunt for the Wilderpeople, which made all of $23 million. (Hiring an indie director counts as a risk for the mega-conglomerate.) But the bet paid off: Ragnarok belongs in the top-five of any best MCU movies list, and Waititi, who also wrote and directed the excellent What We Do in the Shadows, later won an Oscar for Jojo Rabbit.
Waititi is currently working on Thor: Love and Thunder, but he’ll hop over to another Disney property for his next film: Star Wars. According to a press release, “Academy Award winner Taika Waititi, who recently won Best Adapted Screenplay for Jojo Rabbit and directed the widely-acclaimed first season finale episode of The Mandalorian on Disney+, will direct and co-write a new Star Wars feature film for theatrical release.” He will write the screenplay with BAFTA winner Krysty Wilson-Cairns (1917).
There’s no word on what the film will be about, but I hear Korg is available. Korg and Miek are my Han and Chewie.
In other exciting Star Wars news, Disney also confirmed that Russian Doll co-creator Leslye Headland is, indeed, working on a series for Disney+, which will reportedly be a “female-centric series that takes place in a different part of the Star Wars timeline than other projects.” Good people making (hopefully) good Star Wars stuff, what a concept!
(Via Star Wars)
