Every Taika Waititi-Directed Movie, Ranked According To Box Office Mojo

In 2017, Taika Waititi was Marvel Studio’s secret weapon, as he seemingly came out of nowhere to direct Thor: Ragnarok, one of the biggest surprise hits of 2017.

All of the director’s movies up to that point were heartfelt, coming-of-age comedy-dramas that few people had heard of but were still modest successes in Waititi’s native country, New Zealand. Since Waititi’s popularity has grown over the past few years, his directorial efforts have deservedly gotten a lot more popular, but compared to the Goliath franchises he’s working with now, their box office intakes are fractional.

6 Eagle Vs. Shark (2007) – $1.298 Million

It just goes to show how much power Marvel Studios has. Waititi has been directing movies since 2007, but few had heard of him until he started working with the studio 10 years later.

Barely anyone had heard of Eagle vs. Shark either, and it made almost no money at the box office, despite starring Jemaine Clement. But it’s still a great, heartwarming comedy about two misfits getting revenge on high-school bullies. And with the impending release of Waititi’s upcoming Next Goal Wins, it’ll hopefully feature the same kind of humor.

5 What We Do In The Shadows (2014) – $7.2 Million

When it was first released, What We Do In The Shadows received little fanfare, and that’s a shame, because it’s one of the funniest mockumentaries ever made. The film follows a group of vampires who go about their daily (or nightly) lives, whether it’s trying to lure unknowing virgins’ to the house or simply arguing over chores. Unfortunately, the movie only made a little over $7 million.

However, just like the vampires, What We Do In The Shadows had a second life of its own. After the success of Thor: Ragnarok and the auteurist vision it had, people started to learn about Waititi and viewers caught wind of the 2014 film. The movie even exceed viewers’ expectations for those that didn’t want to watch it, and it now has a successful TV series spin-off too.

4 Hunt For The Wilderpeople (2016) – $23.9 Million

The movie might only have made $23 million, but that’s still almost 10 times its budget. Hunt For The Wilderpeople was made with just $2.5 million, the bulk of which probably went to Sam Neill for his lead role. However, it wasn’t the little star power it had that made the film a modest success, but the great narrative and the word of mouth that followed.

Hunt For The Wilderpeople is one of the best coming-of-age movies that people haven’t seen, as it follows a man who reluctantly becomes the carer for his nephew after his aunt passes away. It even made a star out of Julian Dennison, who was just 15 at the time of the movie’s release, and he has since starred in huge blockbuster hits like Deadpool 2 and Godzilla vs. Kong.

3 Boy (2010) – $43.5 Million

Along with Hunt For The Wilderpeople, the 2010 movie is yet another heartfelt coming-of-age comedy-drama, and it features one of the best characters in a Waititi movie. It again sees Waititi doing what he does best, creating bittersweet narratives, as it follows the titular character who goes on an adventure to track down his much-talked-about father. However, when he eventually does find his father, it’s nothing but disappointment.

Despite its simple title that’s a pain to google, it didn’t stop audiences from finding Boy. The movie made more than $40 million, which is more than impressive given how low-budget it is. And interestingly, the bulk of the movie’s profits come from its native country, New Zealand, as it made a minuscule $250,000 in the U.S.

2 Jojo Rabbit (2019) – $90.3 Million

After the success of Thor: Ragnarok, Waititi was being treated like a movie god in Hollywood, and many different studios were offering him the world to work with them. The writer-director had the choice to make anything he wanted, whether it was a Star Wars movie or a He-Man: Masters of the Universe reboot. But instead, he opted to go for a low-budget drama about a Hitler Youth Camp member whose imaginary friend is Adolf himself.

But as quirky as that sounds, Jojo Rabbit turned out to be a whirlwind of emotions. Not only is it funny, but it has such an emotive premise, as Jojo’s mother is secretly anti-Nazi and is hiding a Jewish girl under the floorboards. $90 million might seem like pennies compared to what Waititi’s previous movie made, but given that it had a budget of just $14 million, the movie was a huge success bolstered by Scarlett Johannson’s leading role.

1 Thor: Ragnarok (2017) – $853.9 Million

There’s nothing less surprising than Taika Waitit’s highest-grossing film being Thor: Ragnarok. On the face of it, it seems like Waititi is a strange choice for directing a blockbuster movie, especially based on his career of making quiet coming-of-age comedies. However, Marvel Studios have made it a regular occurrence to hire directors from unique, independent backgrounds and give them huge budgets to play with, and it hasn’t worked better than when they hired Waititi to helm this space odyssey.

The Thor series was in dire need of an overhaul, as the dull-looking first two movies made it seem like the series couldn’t keep up with the other genre-bending MCU movies. But Waititi turned Ragnarok into a colorful, wonderful experience that was as much a comedy as it was a superhero flick.