Because of its standing as one of the derided Marvel Cinematic Universe titles, the final dialog surrounding Thor: The Dark World has largely targeted solely on its inventive shortcomings. Those drawbacks are definitely price speaking about, however it’s considerably surprising that extra consideration hasn’t been paid to the chaotic manufacturing that this function endured. Marvel Studios productions have typically confronted tumultuous behind-the-scenes struggles (simply ask the unique Ant-Man), however even by comparability to different tormented tasks from this studio, Thor: The Dark World had an particularly difficult historical past that included a temporary brush with future Wonder Woman helmer Patty Jenkins. No surprise the ultimate product was so underwhelming.
‘Thor: The Dark World’ Struggled to Find Its Director
It was inevitable that Thor would obtain a sequel. Though the Marvel Cinematic Universe was nonetheless in its infancy in 2011, there was already properly over a decade of different Marvel films establishing a precedent for these options at all times spawning sequels. Even extra divisive titles like The Punisher or Hulk obtained follow-ups that simply went with new lead actors and administrators. Unless Thor cratered on the field workplace, Marvel was going to make extra solo outings for the God of Thunder. Considering Thor cracked $448 million globally, it was inevitable {that a} new journey would make its approach to the silver display screen.
Less than two months after that authentic function premiered in theaters, a second Thor was introduced and set for a July 26, 2013 launch. However, with Thor filmmaker Kenneth Branagh opting to take a seat out this sequel, a brand new filmmaker was wanted to helm the Thor franchise. Initially, it regarded like Brian Kirk could be taking the reins of this challenge after getting on individuals’s radars along with his filmmaking chops on three episodes of the primary season of Game of Thrones.
However, a number of months later, Kirk turned down the function, resulting in Marvel increasing its horizons and in search of out different directorial choices. After analyzing the likes of Drew Goddard, James McTeigue, Noam Murro, and Breck Eisner, the studio ultimately settled on Patty Jenkins to helm the function. Like Kirk, Jenkins, at this level, had stirred up buzz for a current standout TV directing gig, on this case helming the pilot episode of The Killing. However, Jenkins additionally had the 2003 movie Monster, which scored Charlize Theron an Oscar, beneath her belt as proof that she may nail feature-length narratives too.
Patty Jenkins’ ‘Thor: The Dark World’ Would Have Been a New Kind of Marvel Movie
In the pages of The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the authors observe that, because the film started manufacturing, “Thor 2 struggled to seek out its huge concept that may cement its function.” Considering this observe comes within the pages of a tome absolutely approved by Marvel Studios, it is clear that the manufacturing woes of Thor: The Dark World have been no secret. These points have been made much more manifestly obvious as soon as Patty Jenkins left the superhero film simply two months after getting employed for the gig.
Considering that Jenkins had expertise on TV reveals like The Killing and Arrested Development, it’s clear this director was not incapable of working with pre-existing characters in a universe dealt with by numerous artistic fingers. Instead, the issues lay with disputes between herself and Marvel Studios. The firm might have been struggling to determine what they wished Thor 2 to be, however Marvel knew it didn’t need to discover concepts advised by Jenkins. Jenkins wished to do a model of Thor: The Dark World that was extra evocative of Romeo & Juliet and based mostly round Thor and Jane Foster being worlds aside. That character-centric focus may’ve been intriguing and provided one thing totally different from regular Marvel Studios far, however Marvel wasn’t desirous about going that route.
Looking again on the entire ordeal in 2020, Jenkins famous that she did not have confidence within the story Marvel wished her to execute and she or he felt that any antagonistic penalties from the movie’s failure could be laid at her ft, not Marvel’s. With that, she was gone, which opened the door for her to do Wonder Woman years later. It additionally meant that Marvel wanted a brand new director for Thor: The Dark World, with the place ultimately getting stuffed by Alan Taylor. Like Kirk, Taylor was a Game of Thrones veteran, although his expertise on that HBO program couldn’t put together Taylor for all of the chaos that may emerge through the manufacturing of The Dark World.
‘Thor: The Dark World’s Woes Continued in Post
From right here, Thor: The Dark World moved like a steam prepare to its new November 2013 launch date, although that didn’t imply the movie was completed with all its manufacturing difficulties. The largest issues for the film and Taylor got here after principal images was by way of. The Dark World was radically overhauled in post-production, together with by way of reshoots that concerned work from Joss Whedon, whereas main plot factors just like the demise of Loki have been modified dramatically. Sequences within the first reduce that employed magical realism on Earth have been additionally excluded. In the tip, Taylor walked away understandably disillusioned with the entire expertise.
Thor: The Dark World ended up turning right into a field workplace hit and it wasn’t sufficient of an all-time dud to ward away audiences from giving the radically totally different Thor: Ragnarok a watch when it premiered in November 2017. However, its chaotic manufacturing is a cautionary story concerning the risks of placing a launch date and obligations to suit a film right into a slate of titles above having a concrete and creatively satisfying concept for a follow-up. This is particularly disappointing given all of the gifted individuals who have been concerned in The Dark World’s creation, together with filmmakers like Jenkins and Taylor who’ve accomplished robust work as administrators elsewhere. Unfortunately, the tumultuous behind-the-scenes mayhem of The Dark World by no means gave these artists or the world of Thor sufficient room to blossom into one thing particular inside this sequel. All of these issues make it obvious why we’ll all be speaking about Thor: The Dark World as an particularly underwhelming Marvel Studios effort for years to return.