Taika Waititi's film Hunt for the Wilderpeople is still the highest grossing Kiwi film ever made.

After watching Hunt for the Wilderpeople at Sundance Film Festival, it's a no-brainer why Marvel scooped up director Taika Waititi for its third Thor installment, Thor: Ragnarok.

Wilderpeople is one of the mostly finely crafted, laugh-out-loud comedies at the festival.

The New Zealand caper mixes in modern anti-heroes, including an overweight, rap-loving foster care kid named Ricky (Julian Dennison) and the unwilling mountain man (Sam Neill) forced to look after him.



Forty minutes in, the unusual duo are on the lam, fleeing into the wild bush with a dog Ricky dubs Tupac.

Chris Hemsworth is Thor.

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"We were out in the wilderness. It's basically The Revenant, but no money," Waititi jokes.

Chris Evans as Captain America and Chris Hemsworth as Thor in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Like most film festivals, Sundance is packed with tearjerkers and morose tales of misfortune and death -- which makes skilled, emotive comedies like Wilderpeople shine all the more brightly.

"People don't need to see depressing films. They need to be entertained," says Waititi, 40.

"It seems a little arrogant to spend lots of money recreating the world's sadness. Documentaries do it so much better."



When the director wrote his first draft of Wilderpeople in 2005, based on the novel Wild Pork and Watercress, "I hadn't made a feature," says Waititi.



"So I did a typical first-time filmmaker script, which was super-depressing and [the lead] dies in the end - a full-on arty version of this film."



Ten years later, he returned to the project with an uplifting overhaul.

Ian Gavan Director Taika Waititi during the 64th Berlinale International Film Festival.

Now he's excited to "shock myself a little bit" with Thor: Ragnarok, set for 2017.

"Two of my favorite directors are Hal Ashby and George Miller," he says. "From film to film, it's a new thing. And that to me is more inspiring than making same type of movie every time."

Mark Ruffalo (aka The Hulk) spilled a few more details to USA TODAY in October.

MARVEL God of Thunder indeed.

"Chris (Hemsworth) and I have a really good time together, we goof off and play around when Tom Hiddleston is around. So it'll be a lot of funny back-and-forth, especially with Taika, he does that really well. It'll have that kind of antagonistic Odd Couple-thing going on," he said.

Marvel has made a practice of plucking talented directors from the indie world -- just look to latest hire Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station,Creed), tapped to direct 2018's Black Panther.

How did Marvel find Waititi?

"They were looking for comedy directors," he says. "They had seen What We Do in the Shadows and Boy. They especially liked Boy."

Thor: Ragnarok shoots this summer in Australia, and Waititi says to expect a hefty amount of humor. He already knows Chris Hemsworth, too.

"He's a funny guy," says Waititi.

(Will Aussie Cate Blanchett join the production? "I'd love to get fit and punch people," she told USA TODAY in January.)

Waititi terms his brand of humor "comedy of the mundane".

" In New Zealand, we grew up on a diet of the best British comedies and the best American comedies," he says. "So it's really a combination of both."