Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Director Patty Jenkins is leaving Thor 2. Best known for directing Charlize Theron to an Oscar in Monster and the pilot of AMC’s The Killing, Jenkins had been set to helm the film in late September. I’m told that Marvel Studios is already talking to agencies as it canvasses for a new director, something that is expected to happen quickly. Her exit had to do with creative differences, but the feeling is that she’ll probably end up working on one of these superhero films, but perhaps not on a sequel. Marvel will have to move fast because it has to meet a November 15, 2013 release date for the sequel, which brings back Chris Hemsworth as the hammer-wielding superhero, and Thor co-writer Don Payne is writing the script. The Kenneth Branagh-directed original grossed $448 million worldwide and launched the star of Hemsworth, who reprised Thor in The Avengers and then played the latter title role opposite Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron in Snow White and the Huntsman for Universal.

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