Thor did pretty well for Marvel, racking up around $440 million at the global box office. That's not as much as Iron Man or Iron Man 2 did, but it's still a hefty chunk of change, and should wind up being pretty damn profitable for them in the long run. It's no surprise, then, that Thor 2 is on the docket for production; such has been rumored for a while, but it looks like it just got a bit more official, with Deadline announcing that the film has been slotted to run in a summer 2013 timeframe. With Iron Man 3 in the bread-and-butter first weekend of May for them, I'd bet on Thor 2 opening sometime in mid-July, like Captain America is this year.
Chris Hemsworth is set to return as Thor, obviously, but what's surprising is that Marvel is announcing that Kenneth Branagh won't be coming back to direct the sequel; Deadline says the separation is "mutual and amicable," which could mean anything from Branagh not being interested or Marvel wanting some fresh blood. It'll be curious to see who they bring in for the sequel, as well as what other cast members return. Loki seems to be in Marvel's long-term plans, but I have doubts that Anthony Hopkins or Natalie Portman will be back; sequels just don't seem like they'd be much up their alley.
Of course, a lot of those questions will probably be revealed in the run-up to The Avengers next year. They'll have to pick a director before it's released, so we'll know sometime before next summer what the lineup will be. Excited? Any ideas on what they could improve from Thor?
