Nobody was surprised in the slightest last week when Marvel Studio head Kevin Feige said that a sequel to Thor, due out on May 6, is currently being planned. It's widely known that stars Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston are signed on for multiple films beyond next year's The Avengers, but what about director Kenneth Branagh?
Movieline recently spoke with Branagh and asked if it there was a possibility that he would for a second adventure with the Norse God and the answer is that he has absolutely no idea, both about the job and the sequel. "It’s is kind of news to me," Branagh said. "Here’s what I would say to that: It’s that I’m thrilled they’re that confident. I shall wait for the audience to tell us whether there should be a second one, and then if that’s a nice conversation to be had between all of us, that’d be thrilling. But I’ve got too much Irish superstitious blood in me to assume that Thor 2 will happen. But if Marvel says so, then I guess it must be true."
That is the most level-headed approach to jump-the-gun sequels that I've heard yet. Sure, Captain America writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely said that they would base their sequel script on the direction that audiences wanted to see the story go, but they've still started the process three months before anybody has seen the film. Why not see if people are actually interested in a Thor or Captain America movie before pushing millions of dollars into a sequel that may never happen?
