Taika Waititi Is Directing 'Next Goal Wins' For Fox Searchlight Before 'Thor: Love And Thunder' [Updated]

Update: Sources close to the project have shared a few more details about the film with us, including the title and premise. We've added these to our original article below.Taika Waititi is feeling a lot of love (and thunder) from Hollywood lately. After rejuvenating the Thor franchise with the critically acclaimed box office smash hit Thor: Ragnarok, Waititi has been constantly in demand, recently working with Fox Searchlight to direct a highly anticipated Nazi satire Jojo Rabbit. Waititi will be teaming up with the studio again for a secret untitled project that he is set to write and direct.Variety broke the news that Waititi has lined up his next project that will come before Thor: Love and Thunder. Waititi is attached to write and direct an untitled project as his next film, with Fox Searchlight set to distribute. Garrett Basch is producing the film alongside Jonathan Cavendish and Andy Serkis through their Imaginarium banner.

While the plot details are currently unknown, it likely won't be a big-budget action film, as Waititi already had to postpone his Akira movie at Warner Bros. in order to focus on Thor. But that doesn't mean he can't squeeze one more film under his belt before he heads back to Asgard.

Update: We can now report that the film is called Next Goal Wins, an adaptation of the 2014 documentary of the same name. The original film was directed by Mike Brett and Steve Jamison and follows the National Football Team of American Samoa as they attempt to turn around their disastrous record (they infamously lost 31-0 to Australia in 2001) and qualify for the FIFA World Cup with the help of new Coach Thomas Rongen. Waititi wrote the screenplay with Iain Morris. Our original article continues below.

Waititi is set to start shooting the untitled Fox Searchlight film this fall, placing it right before the Thor: Love and Thunder production in early 2020. This fall, nay year, for Waititi will be a busy one: in addition to shooting this mystery film and prepping for the fourth Thor film, Waititi will be likely doing press for Jojo Rabbit, which Fox Searchlight already plans to give a strong awards-season campaign push following its October release. But if anyone deserves to be swamped with wacky passion projects and big-budget Marvel movies, it's Waititi.

Waititi's Jojo Rabbit is set to hit theaters on October 18, 2019, while Thor: Love and Thunder rolls into theaters on November 5, 2021. We can expect the untitled mystery project somewhere in between those two titles, perhaps in late 2020 or early 2021.