Arguably the biggest beneficiary of Sony's decision to delay its next Spider-Man film for a year has been another Marvel project, Thor. It's now been able to move forward to the lucrative May 6th 2011 release slot, and there's little chance it'll miss it, given that director Kenneth Branagh has now officially started shooting.

He still had to solve a last minute problem, however, as Stuart Townsend left the project at the eleventh hour. The actor was cast as one of the Warriors Three, and reportedly departed over "creative differences".

This isn't, of course, the first time that Townsend has been replaced at the last minute. He was the original choice to play Aragorn in the Lord Of The Rings film, before his last minute departure opened the door for Viggo Mortensen. This time, relative unknown Joshua Dallas has stepped in (he was in The Descent Part II).

While the exact reason for Townsend leaving the project hasn't been revealed, we may be going out on a limb here, but we suspect he's not going to be near the top of too many casting director's wishlists by the time the next blockbuster movie job comes round...

Thor, then, is released in the US on May 6th 2011.