What the Hell is All this 'Iron Man 2' Negative Commotion About?

Yup, money...

By: Brad Brevet
Published: Tuesday, June 10th 2008 at 3:50 PM

"Uh, Robert, the camera is over here…" "Yeah, but look at that chick over there!"
Photo: Yahoo!

This is what we get for trusting the new hotbed for entertainment news, Military.com, when they reported that Iron Man 2 would begin production in March 2009 for an April 2010 release.

Last night director Jon Favreau used his MySpace blog to basically say, "Uh, really?":

It’s been five weeks since the one and only phone call my reps have gotten from Marvel. I know their hands are full with the Hulk and I’m sure they will get into it shortly, as they tell me they intend to. I ran into the Marvel guys at the Hulk premiere and everyone sounded eager to get to work on IM2.

I am concerned, however, about the announced release date of April 2010. Neither Robert nor I were consulted about this and we are both concerned about how realistic the date is in light of the fact that we have no script, story or even writers hired yet. This genre of movie is best when it is done thoughtfully and with plenty of preparation. It might be better to follow the BB/DK, X/X2 three year release pattern than to scramble for a date. It is difficult because there are no Marvel 09 releases and they need product, but I also think we owe it to the fans to have a great version of IM2 and, at this point, we would have less time to make it than the first one."

I didn't report on that because I assumed something like what has happened would happen and it is happening, and no, that has nothing to do with the fact that I just got home from The Happening.

Beyond Favreau's MySpace comment, IESB is taking it one step further as they report from a source they trust 100-percent the word is that negotiations with Favreau aren't exactly going well. They tell us:

Jon Favreau has not been locked in to direct Iron Man 2 for the simple reason that Marvel is being cheap – this is 100% accurate folks, no bullshit.

Apparently Marvel Studios head, David Maisel, isn't willing to pay Favreau what he is asking for despite the fact that they got him on the cheap for the first Iron Man as it was following up his rather disappointing box-office return for Zathura. Following the phenomenal success of Iron Man, however, Favs just wants what he believes is coming to him. Maisel's alleged opinion is that he believes Iron Man 2 will do well regardless of who directs it. I hate to say it, but he does have a point.

However, there is one thing that makes me wonder if Maisel may be shooting himself in the foot. With Iron Man he isn't dealing with D-list actors like Brandon Routh. He is dealing with Oscar nominated actors such as Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow and Terrence Howard. If these folks see Marvel treating Favreau with this kind of disrespect (and that really is what it is if all this is true) who's to say they won't treat the principals the same way? Even if they find someone else to direct how comfortable would that shoot be knowing that Favreau was unceremoniously ousted?

This is obviously the beginning of what could be a long drawn out process. To add fuel to the fire, it sounds like there may be a chance that Hancock may in fact hurt the earlier sequel ideas as Favreau points out to Collider, "The comic book fans might see 'Demon in a Bottle' (a famed storyline in the 'Iron Man' mythos) as a fresh story line but I haven't seen Hancock yet. From what I've seen it seems there is a lot of imagery that seems to be shared. Him flying through billboards and things. The idea of the hero whose biggest enemy is himself, and him fighting through his demons, you want to come at the audience with something fresh. You don't want to feel like you are echoing something that somebody else is doing."

What fun eh?

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