Taika Waititi to take the field for Fox Searchlight’s Next Goal Wins

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Earlier today, reports of Taika Waititi looking to board a mysterious project before embarking on an early 2020 production for Marvel's THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER began making the rounds. And now, it's been revealed that the project in question is NEXT GOAL WINS, a film that Waititi will write and direct. As per today's report, the pic is based on the 2014 British soccer documentary from directors Mike Brett and Steve Jamison.

According to Deadline, the documentary follows Dutch coach Thomas Rongen who attempts the nearly impossible task of turning the American Samoa soccer team from perennial losers into winners.

Waititi and Iain Morris will co-write the adaptation, which Andy Serkis, Garrett Basch, Jonathan Cavendish, and Fox Searchlight producing. Brett and Jamison will also produce.

The documentary helmed by Brett and Jamison made a big splash at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival and won Best Documentary at the British Independent Film Awards that year.

While Waititi's Nazi-era satire JOJO RABBIT is set to goosestep into theaters on October 18, fans of the THOR: RAGNAROK director are no doubt anxious to hear of more details related to the filmmaker's next Marvel venture, THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER. Slated for a November 5, 2021 release, the God of Thunder's next big screen adventure will see him relinquishing his title as Thor to Natalie Portman's Jane Foster. Known to comic book fans as Mighty Thor, Waititi has stated that Marvel writer Jason Aaron's iconic run on the character will serve as inspiration for his new film. Aaron returned to writing Thor in 2012, and for the past several years has delivered a Marvel comic book epic for the ages. Some, myself included, feel that Aaron's Thor: God of Thunder and Mighty Thor collection are among the greatest stories Marvel has ever published. It should be interesting to see what elements of Aaron's story Waititi will act as inspiration for his film, as much of the Mighty Thor run involves Jane recovering from cancer while also wielding Mjolnir, the mighty hammer that only the most worthy are able to lift.