Taika Waititi Comments on the Future of Three of His Projects

What We Do in the Shadows was a solid but not a mainstream hit. On the other hand, with Thor: Ragnarok and Jojo Rabbit, Taika Waititi reached stardom in a quick fashion, and he was suddenly one of the most popular and sought-after directors in the world, which was an incredible rise in popularity for him.

But, since then, his career has been on a downward spiral. Thor: Love and Thunder was a failure, while Next Goal Wins proved to be a fun film, but not much more. Our Flag Means Death was a solid success, but Waititi is nowhere near his former fame.

In light of that, the future of three of his major projects – a live-action adaptation of the anime classic Akira, a new take on the Star Wars franchise, and the Flash Gordon remake – have all been put on hold and are currently in developmental hell, we’d say. Recently, the director himself commented on the future of these projects.

All three of these projects were very ambitious. Akira is one of the best anime films ever made. It is a movie that effectively combines the art of Japanese animation with great storytelling; it is considered to be a cult classic among the fans, and we can understand why everyone approaches it with care.

Waititi announced that he would be making a live-action, but that was way back in 2017 and since then, nothing has happened in that aspect.

As for the Star Wars project, this was announced following Waititi’s successful MCU outing and the wave Star Wars was riding on at the time. Both of these successes, especially fueled by The Mandalorian (in which Waititi voiced IG-11 and IG-12), led to Lucasfilm announcing that Waititi would direct his own Star Wars movie, a movie that would have had a very different approach… had it been made.

So far, nothing has happened in that aspect, and with Lucasfilm shifting its focus, the future is in doubt.

Finally, there is the Flash Gordon remake. Flash Gordon is a cult pulp film from the 1980s, and while considered to be of low quality by some, it has a cult following and is loved by many. Waititi was initially attached to an animated remake, which has since been canceled and turned into a live-action remake, but nothing happened in that aspect either.

As you can see, all these three projects are currently on hold, and with Waititi’s career being in a strange place, no one knows what is going to happen.

In light of that, the people behind The Playlist‘s Bingeworthy podcast asked Waititi about all these projects during an interview that was focused on his latest project, Interior Chinatown, and here is what he said:

What was ever alive? What is death? You know, death is just a new opportunity. More life to grow and flourish. Everything’s always in development. My advice for any filmmaker is, ‘Just say yes to everything.’ Because, you know, things come and go. And you never know what stage things are.

And I’ve been attached to things that have disappeared for three years and then bubbled back up. I’m like, ‘Oh, I thought that thing was dead. Now I’ve got to go do that again.

Source: The Playlist

From what we can gather… Taika Waititi doesn’t know much either. But, as soon as someone has some information, we will be here to report it, so be sure to keep following us for more!

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