Thor: Love & Thunder's Taika Waititi On Shooting Schedule And Impact Of Australia Fires

Marvel Phase 4 movie Thor: Love & Thunder, the sequel to 2017's much-loved Thor: Ragnarok, will begin filming in Australia later this year. Director Taika Waititi confirmed this in a new interview, where he also spoke about the devastating fires raging throughout Australia and if this will impact the shooting schedule.

It's too soon to say, according to Waititi. "I don't know. It's insane what's happening down there," the New Zealand-born director said. "I keep reading about it every day. It seems to keep getting worse and a lot of the smoke is now moving across to New Zealand and melting our glaciers... It's absolute chaos."

The current schedule is for Waititi to travel to Sydney in April before filming commences in August, the director said, acknowledging that this timeline could change.

Love & Thunder will be filmed on stages at Fox Studios in Sydney. The Australian Federal Government is giving Marvel a $24.1 million "location incentive" to shoot in Australia. Another upcoming Marvel movie, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, will also film in Australia.

The production of Love & Thunder is expected to create as many as 2,500 jobs and make use of about 1,650 different businesses in Australia, with a total of around $178 million getting injected into the local economy as a result.

For more on the Australian fires and what you can do to help, check out GameSpot sister site CNET's extensive and informative breakdown.

Waititi's newest movie, JoJo Rabbit, is still in theatres--and it's really good.