Why Thor 4 is Confirmed While Akira is Put On Hold (VIDEO SCRIPT)

Hey there, champ. You’re gonna wanna sit down for this one; it’s a bit of a doozy

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Readers, once again I come to you bearing both good news, and bad news...depending on your point of view.

/The good news is that on July 16, 2019, Marvel Studios confirmed through an exclusive Hollywood Reporter article that there will in fact be a fourth solo Thor movie with Chris Hemsworth starring, and Taika Waititi both writing and directing the film./ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/taika-waititi-direct-thor-4-1224464

The bad news is that Waititi writing and directing the film is costing him Warner Brothers’ Akira, which if you recall had Waititi on board to direct, and was going to start its production this fall.

/The thing about it is that not only is the production halted on Akira upon Waititi agreeing to write and direct Thor 4 for Marvel Studios, but once again, like so many other attempts before it, it caused the project to be put on hold. INDEFINITELY./ https://variety.com/2019/film/news/akira-production-on-hold-warner-bros-1203267719/

(Frustrated Silence) There’s a part of me...that WANTS to be shocked...but I’m not...?

Because as sucky as this situation is to those of us who want Taika to work on either, or, or both, it’s probably even SUCKIER for Waititi himself

Not only has he proven that he cared about staying true to the actual manga in regards to switching its setting back to Neo Tokyo after it’s been Neo Manhattan for the longest

/But he was actually in the middle of finding Japanese actors for Tetsuo and Kaneda when this news broke. Also revealing that Warner Brothers delayed the production in order to give him time to find the right people for the roles. Along with the fact that there were...creative disagreements/ Akira - Variety

Now it hasn’t been revealed what those disagreements are yet, or at least by Variety.

Hollywood Reporter on the other hand gave us at least a peek behind the curtain,

/Revealing that while the production dates for the films would definitely be too close for him to commit to both, there were some concerns over the development of the script/ Akira - Hollywood Reporter1

Which, outside of Waititi himself, the only other writer attached to the project is Michael Golamco, who wrote Netflix’s Always Be My Maybe and was one of the writers for the TV show Grimm

So there’s the possibility that the disagreement in question MAY be between how Waititi and Golamco want to handle the script, but at the same time it could also just be the two of them against Warner Brothers executives, which I honestly wouldn’t put past.

However, if we’re looking for anything concrete regarding why Waititi is taking up Thor 4 over Akira, we have to take another thing into consideration.

Taika Waititi isn’t just a writer/director. He’s an actor as well.

And he’s currently filming a movie with Ryan Reynolds and Stranger Things’ Joe Keery called Free Guy

/20th Century Fox’s official Twitter account posted this picture mid May of 2019 of Waititi, Reynolds, Keery and the rest of the cast as they started production on the film/ Taika Waititi - Free Guy

With him filming this movie with the July 15th production start date of Akira incoming in order for Leonardo DiCaprio’s production company to take advantage of the California Tax Credit

Having THAT date postponed in order for him to find the right Japanese talent

Whatever disagreements he had with either his co-writer or Warner Brothers in regards to getting production started as soon as possible

And probably pitching Thor 4 to Marvel Studios beforehand and them going for it

It’s looking like all of these projects coming to fruition at the same time just created the perfect storm; I’m surprised George Clooney wasn’t involved.

So between Akira and Thor 4, for obvious reasons he chose Thor 4

/With Warner Brothers holding on to the hope that he’ll come back to the project once he’s done over at Marvel/ Akira - Hollywood Reporter2

It’s no Suicide Squad/Guardians of the Galaxy deal like the one James Gunn took when he was rehired over at Marvel Studios, but it’s nice to know that he has options

And as one of the only filmmakers out there that was attached to this live action adaptation of Akira that cared so much about conserving its Japanese roots, I can only hope that he has the same drive if he comes back to the project

I mean, after all the shit I read about how much he loves the manga and anime movie, I’m sure he will. But I mean, I’m not his publicist. And I don’t think I wanna be, either; that seems like a pretty hectic job...