THOR:
RAGNAROK.

A TONE REEL BEFORE A STORY

HOW WAITITI WON THE JOB WITH A CLIP REEL AND A LED ZEPPELIN SONG

Waititi was in talks to direct by October 2015 and was confirmed later that month. He was on a shortlist and had one day to meet Kevin Feige, and he pitched a sizzle reel of clips from films he admired set to “Immigrant Song.” In January 2018, Waititi said he cut together “little clips and shots,” some of them taken by illegal downloads.

Feige called the pitch amazing and said the song defined the direction of the film from that first meeting.

RELATABLE, IMPROVISED AND OFF-KILTER

WHY WAITITI CHANGED THE TONE OF THE THOR FILMS

Waititi said in October 2017 that he wanted Thor to be the audience’s stand-in, reacting with confusion to the strange world around him, in the way of Kurt Russell’s character in Big Trouble in Little China. The stated aim was “to make Thor more relatable and really just more like us.” He said he had shot Team Thor about a month before filming began, as a way of showing fans how irreverent the film would be. Eric Pearson wrote the screenplay, from a story by Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost.

Waititi improvised most scenes, calling out suggestions to actors on set and trimming over-the-top takes in the edit:

“I’ve always found the script to be a bit more of a skeleton, the template.”

Taika Waititi, September 2017

HELA AND THE GRANDMASTER

WHO JOINED THE CAST, AND WHAT SAKAAR ADDED

Cate Blanchett and Tessa Thompson were confirmed in May 2016, with Jeff Goldblum and Karl Urban announced in the same period, and Waititi plays Korg through motion capture. Marvel’s Hall H panel on 23 July 2016 gave a sneak peek at Blanchett as Hela and showed footage of Thor and the Hulk battling. Marvel also posted a video of the Hulk’s gladiator armour, which confirmed that the film adapted the Planet Hulk storyline.

Filming ran from 4 July to 28 October 2016 at Village Roadshow Studios on the Gold Coast in Queensland, and Brisbane’s city centre doubled for New York. Stan Lee appears on Sakaar as a man who cuts Thor’s hair.

KIRBY COLOURS AND A SYNTHESIZER SCORE

HOW SAKAAR LOOKED AND HOW THE FILM SOUNDED

Production designer Dan Hennah recalled that Waititi “came up with some Jack Kirby art” showing a head in a helmet and said, “This is Sakaar,” which “opened the floodgates.” Visual effects supervisor Jake Morrison said Kirby’s density shaped the film’s look, recalling that “he never erased anything.” The vibrant palette and geometric shapes were drawn from Kirby’s comic panels.

Composer Mark Mothersbaugh said in November 2017 that he layered a 50-piece synth band over a symphony orchestra, pulling out “old synthesizers from the Devo days that I had in the basement,” because Waititi “has a real affection for ’70s-era synth.” Clearance for “Immigrant Song” came late, with Led Zeppelin’s team agreeing after seeing a glimpse of the film.

THE REWATCH

A FRANCHISE-BEST OPENING AND A 93% CRITICS SCORE

The film opened to $122,744,989 from 4,080 locations, a franchise best and the fourth-biggest opening of 2017. It went on to earn about $850 million worldwide against a $180 million budget. Rotten Tomatoes lists a 93% critics’ score from 437 reviews and an 87% audience score, and its consensus calls it “exciting, funny, and above all fun.” Metacritic gives it 74 from 51 critics. There is a mid-credits scene and a post-credits scene.

In the Marvel Marathon it sits in the MCU release order, MCU movies in order and Marvel movies in release order guides between Spider-Man: Homecoming and Black Panther. In the MCU timeline guide it follows Daredevil Season 3 and comes before The Punisher Season 2.