Thor: Love and Thunder proved to be something of a mixed bag, and while it opened to a mighty $143 million, all eyes are now on this coming weekend. After all, that will prove whether the apparent negative reaction from many fans is a vocal minority or if a lack of interest in repeat viewings and poor word of mouth will lead to a significant second-weekend drop.
There was certainly fun to be had with the Thor: Ragnarok sequel, though a common complaint is that the Guardians of the Galaxy had nowhere near enough screentime.
Most of the team had barely any dialogue, and with the recent reveal that key scenes involving The Grandmaster and Eitri left on the cutting room floor, could the Guardians once have had a bigger role? Talking to Insider, director Taika Waititi said, "The plan was always to have them in the beginning and then move on. Because they have their own movie."
"There was talk about having them come back at the end," he continued, adding, "The thing is, that happens in every movie. No more. No more of the cavalry coming at the end. So we shelved that idea. We just wanted Jane to come in at the end."
In the same interview, Waititi discussed Russell Crowe's Zeus, confirming that the character's accent was a big talking point while making Thor: Love and Thunder. Admitting that there was some concern about a Greek accent sounding too silly, the filmmaker revealed, "Russell was very much wanting it to be Greek. But I wasn't sure, so we ended up doing two versions of every take with Russell. One in a Greek accent and then another in a British accent. Because I felt people would think Zeus would sound British like Laurence Olivier in 'Clash of the Titans.'"
"I realized in post that it's actually more offensive to the Greeks to have Zeus sound like he's British. And test audiences loved the Greek accent. I'm really happy with it," Waititi added. "But, yeah, he had to do every take once in the Greek accent and once with a British accent because I couldn't make up my mind. But Russell was right all along."
Crowe did sound a little silly (like a weird cross between Borat and Super Mario), but Zeus was portrayed in a comedic light, so it mostly worked. A mid-credits scene teased big plans for the denizens of Ominipitence City, so we're sure we haven't seen the last of them. As for the Guardians, their story continues in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Thor: Love and Thunder is now playing in theaters!