Updated: Jon Favreau May Not Direct Iron Man 2
Update: Harry Knowles over at Ain’t It Cool has verified this story through his sources. I was worried that my initial reaction may have been a bit premature, but I stand by what I said more than ever now. I completely understand that a director is only one part of what makes a good movie, but I firmly believe that Mr. Favreau has more than a little bit to do with the fact that Iron Man is no longer the b-list hero he’s been for a long time. That’s why I’m standing this firmly behind him.
In what is potentially a repeat of the X-Men 3 debacle, First Showing is reporting thatMarvel is saying that Iron Man director Jon Favreau is not necessary for Iron Man 2 to be financially successful. It seems to be a veiled attempt to lowball Favreau before they even give him a second call after Iron Man’s stellar box office numbers. It’s also possible that Marvel is attempting a power play in response to Favreau saying he isn’t sure that Iron Man 2 could be ready by 2010.
I am absolutely willing to go on record and say that should Marvel go down this road of killing the golden goose before it lays more than one egg, I will absolutely boycott Iron Man 2 and will possibly cease all coverage of Iron Man 2. This is specifically if Favreau were not brought back for the next movie. I truly feel this strongly about the topic. Jon Favreau brought a lot of the heart that made people love the first movie, and I worry that a Favreau-less Iron Man would be as bad (if not worse) than X-Men 3.
on June 10th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
I’m willing to bet that RDJ won’t do the movie if Favreau doesn’t do it.
I really just hope that’s the case, I don’t want to see “Iron Man 2, A Film By Brett Ratner”.
on June 11th, 2008 at 7:08 am
I don’t know how these things work but would RDJ have the option to back out? I thought that a movie with franchise possibilities always had the actors contractually bound to sequels.
on June 11th, 2008 at 7:51 am
From what I’ve seen, Robert Downey Jr. is pretty loyal to Favreau. Depending on how loyal he is, there’s ALWAYS a way out of a contract.
The really messed up part is that according to Favreau, the agreement was that he’d be paid a pretty small amount for the first movie with the understanding that there would be a significant bump in pay if the first one was a success. I’d say $537 million internationally is at least a minor success.