Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo and Jeremy Renner are all two-time Academy Award nominees who have experienced both mainstream success and smaller-scale acclaim. Scarlett Johanssson already proved her solo blockbuster worth with "Lucy" and is engaged in a never ending battle with Jennifer Lawrence to be the top female star in Hollywood. Chris Evans is slowly but surely making his name as a director and headlined the widely praised "Snowpiercer" last year. Every one of the Avengers has made a name for themselves outside of the Marvel powerhouse. Every one except Chris Hemsworth, that is.
"Snow White and the Huntsman's" solid box office return was overshadowed by lukewarm reviews and the scandal involving its director and leading lady. The "Red Dawn" remake erased all the good will inspired by the original. "Thor: The Dark World" is widely considered to be the weakest entry in the MCU and "Blackhat" made less than $20 million at the worldwide box office. Outside of Ron Howard's "Rush," which was truly buoyed by Daniel Brühl's performance, Hemsworth hasn't had much success when his magic hammer isn't swinging. But that doesn't mean he can't.
The Australian actor is said to be in talks to play famous literary character Allan Quatermain which Sony Pictures hopes to turn into a bona fide new franchise. As a direct inspiration for Indiana Jones, this sounds like a slam dunk move for both sides. Hemsworth will get the opportunity to anchor his own non-Marvel franchise while Sony tries to get back on track after the financial disaster that was their 2015 slate. But it might be tricky to pull off.
The most well-known on-screen iteration of Allan Quatermain was Sean Connery in 2003's "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," a film so extraordinarily bad that Connery hasn't made a live action film since. While talented rising writer Barnett Brettler has penned a spec-script that is generating buzz, the odds may be stacked against this character making it in theaters,
Aside from Connery, Richard Chamberlain and Patrick Swayze both took on the role of Quatermain in 1985 and 2004, respectively. Neither film made much of a cultural mark. In literature, Quartermain made his first appearance in H. Rider Haggard's 1885 novel "King Solomon's Mines." While Hemsworth has a built in fan base of younger movie-goers, will they really care about a little-known literary figure who is more than 100 years old?
Warner Bros. attempted to tap into those same nostalgia tanks earlier this year with "Pan," whose central character is much more beloved and well-known than Quartermain. Yet audiences were uninspired as the film was met with mostly negative reactions and generated just $123 million at the global box office. Audiences don't seem too attracted to these back-in-the-day characters at the moment. It will be interesting to see how Hemsworth and Sony proceed as each is attempting to carve out a meaningful path for themselves.
Hemsworth can next be seen as the protagonist of "In The Heart Of The Sea," due out on Nov. 25.
