For a while, Disney struggled to catch up with other Industry giants in the realm of 3D animation, especially in the 2000s, but in the 2010s, the House of Mouse did eventually find its footing. And among the many successes it delivered, 2016’s Moana undoubtedly remains the best 3-D movie the studio crafted, which also played a part in Taika Waititi landing the director’s gig for Thor 3.
It’s not pretty common for a trilogy to witness its third movie becoming its biggest success, but with MCU’s Thor, this did end up being the case. However, if it wasn’t for 2016’s Moana, the threequel to Thor might’ve been completely different than the one we got.
Taika Waititi’s Work on Moana Helped Him Secure Thor: Ragnarok
While producer Brad Winderbaum was set to get Taika Waititi on board for Thor: Ragnarok, this almost didn’t end up happening, as Waititi didn’t have his passport at the time. Although he arranged a flight to Los Angeles to meet and present his pitch to Feige, Waititi mistakenly sent back his passport along with some of his luggage back to his native New Zealand. And with the window to meet the Marvel Boss shutting down, the director found a visa letter from The Walt Disney Company for writing Moana, as he wrote the first draft of the movie.
Fortunately for him, the TSA agents were fond of Disney’s Moana, which is reasonable considering it was a big hit, as they corroborated his identity. And as the story goes, he did end up meeting Kevin Feige in person, and his pitch did win over the Marvel Boss. Waititi recalled,
“My sizzle reel wasn’t anything other than things I thought it might be cool to see, image-wise, action-wise, but also tone. There’s a certain type of humor to this, and we can really be a bit fresher, with a lot of color. It should just be bold and bombastic and really in your face, as a contrast to the first two films.” according to Slash Film.
Thor: Ragnarok did end up being one of the best pre-Infinity War movies in the MCU, as like Gunn’s Guardians, it brought something new and colorful to the table in contrast to other MCU releases at the time.
Why Did Taika Waititi Quit Moana?
Although Taika Waititi did serve as one of the initial writers for the Dwayne Johnson-led Moana, it wasn’t long before the Jojo Rabbit director bailed out from the project. Explaining his reasoning behind his decision to leave the movie, Waititi explained he wasn’t too fond of the material.
“It wasn’t anything to do with the process, I just got b[ored],” he told The Guardian. “Like I do all the time, I just ended up wanting to do my own thing again and make a vampire movie instead.”
Even though the fourth movie in the Thor franchise failed to live up to its predecessor, putting Waititi’s future in the MCU on ice, fans are grateful that he was the one to steer the wheel of Thor 3.
Both Thor: Ragnarok and Moana are available to stream on Disney Plus.
Source: Slash Film
