Astonishingly, the rumor which now looks to be completely 100% true is that despite Jon Favreau almost single handily taking a B list Marvel superhero into the upper echelons of the Spider-Man and X-Men blockbusters and in the process making over $530 million worldwide at the box office alone, the studio are reluctant to pay the director his big salary for a sequel.

Can you believe that? Astonishing. The blame has squarely been branded on the head of David Maisel, the head chairman of Marvel Studio’s who many are calling “too cheap” to pay Favreau a fair sum. I mean after all, if Favreau has an awful lot to do with the franchise being in the strong position it’s in right now.

The story comes originally from IESB but has since been backed up by AICN. This looks to be a serious problem and the lockdown in negotiations is undoubtedly why Marvel have not contacted the director in a few weeks and why Favreau recently stated that the 2010 release date was unrealistic.

The understanding is that Maisel doesn’t wanna pay Paramount the huge salaries that the likes of Brett Ratner and Michael Bay have gotten in the past and he believes that now the franchise is set on it’s feat, he could bring anyone to that director’s chair and the result would be the same… an uber popular movie that makes them a fortune.

Right as he may be, there are also more factors at stake. If a new director comes in and the movie bombs… that’s costly not just for future Iron Man films but for future cross-over movies and the universe you are finally starting to put together. Secondly… would Favreau’s good friends Robert Downey Jr. or Terrence Howard be so comfortable carrying on the series without him? Lose them, you lost your franchise.

Can you imagine if Warner Bros. handed asked Christopher Nolan to come back and direct The Dark Knight? Can you imagine if Sam Raimi had been dumped on Spider-Man after the first film?

I can be a pretty stubborn guy but Maisel right now needs to leave that behind and take a real long look at himself in the mirror. Pay up, Favreau deserves so much more than just a salary, he should have a golden ticket at Marvel for what he has done with Iron Man. Don’t screw things up already when everything was looking so rosy with your future plans!

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Terrence Howard, who should hopefully have far much more to do in the sequel has told Military.com that he is expected to turn up for filming to Iron Man 2 at Paramount next March.

The movie is scheduled for a release on April 30th 2010.

I would expect everyone who survived the last movie to be back and also director Jon Favreau. The original movie is currently sitting comfortably on $288 million domestic and $530 million worldwide.

source - coming soon

If Iron Man performs as well as the film is expected to over the next six weeks or so then Paramount will waste no time in pushing through a sequel, similar to how quickly they have already made plans for a Transformers 2 this June.

According to Paramount CEO Brad Grey at the Hollywood premiere of Iron Man - he said that we can expect the sequel in the same week in 2010, which would probably mean Friday April 30th as the third Narnia movie currently holds the May 7th slot.

There’s little doubt in my mind that all actors signed up to the three movie contract deal and they will all be back for a sequel with Terrence Howard’s character especially expecting some more screentime and probable character progression.

The film is in the same situation the first Spider-Man movie was in back in 2002 and Spider-Man 2 had a quick two year turn around, so I would expect the same here. It’s an easy sequel for Marvel - as would be future installments of The Incredible Hulk but I don’t think anyone expects that movie to perform as well as this.

Oh and make sure you stay after the credits for Iron Man, you will finally get to see the much talked about Samuel L. Jackson cameo as Nicky Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Or at least try to stay after the credits. I attempted it but once everyone had left BEFORE the black scroll had even started and the cinema ushers started looking at their watch and getting impatient with me, I thought it best to probably leave. But my screening was definitely the first time my local cinema had played the film, so I guess word of mouth will be out by now so you shouldn’t have any trouble.

source - /film

Directed by: Jon Favreau

Written by: Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway

Based on the classic Marvel characters created by Stan Lee, Don Heck, Larry Lieber, Jack Kirby

Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Leslie Bibb, Shaun Toub, Faran Tahir, Bill Smitrovich, Clark Gregg, Jon Favreau, Stan Lee, Paul Bettany (voice)

Distributed by Paramount Pictures but the first fully financed movie from Marvel Studio’s

Film is released worldwide this week (April 30 - May 2nd 2008)… check your local cinema for exact date & time of first showings.

Review by Matt Holmes

There’s a moment in Iron Man when Tony Stark takes flight to the sky’s in full control of his faithfully adapted red and gold suit, looking way more convincing in the air than the ridiculous amount of money spent by rival studio Warner Brothers on their Superman character two years ago that I began to think - isn’t it great to see how far comic book movies have come in the last ten years.

Memories have soon began to fade of 20th Century Fox and their rather tepid first attempt at the X-Men franchise, not quite sure how it was going to perform despite some big name casts. They were adamant and Bryan Singer certainly complied - in grounding the film down in reality as much as humanely possible which of course meant a travesty when the suits turned up on screen and they all looked the same. Lame black all around and the characters lost much of the personality that their own individual attire had given them for years in the printed and animated form.

Fast forward to 2008, comic books have never been this popular for such a long time - adults are coming back to the medium and it’s no doubt in some part due to this terrific cinematic movement that has ruled this decade of film. By the screening I saw tonight folks - we have come an extremely long way. Iron Man will rival Spider-Man 2 as the most faithfully adapted superhero film of all time.

Everything is here that fans of the comic have come to enjoy.

The perfectly cast (not just because of his off screen persona… but also how this has played into and often heightened his on screen roles), cocky, womanising, playful, smart, witty and insanely watchable Robert Downey Jr is a revelation as billionaire playboy Tony Stark who believes he is promoting peace by creating weapons which stroke fear into the rest of the world because they only needed to be fired once to cause ultimate destruction and are not created to be left on the shelf. “Worked pretty well so far” for the U.S. Stark says - we have a comic book movie here with some political intentions on it’s mind and one that is well aware of it’s country’s reputation in the world.

Iron Man, maybe in part down to it’s older and more experienced cast like a certain Batman Begins - feels much more adult than any Marvel superhero that has so far made into on screen with the possible exception of The Punisher which went a little too dark. It’s attempt at socio-political issues (which is actually something extremely faithful to Stan Lee’s original vision) is commended and the plot that isn’t necessarily about saving the world but has more to do with the war on terror - actually makes a refreshing change. As does a romance between a superhero and the main female lead which actually has sparks.

Their chemistry is super red hot - matching Gwyneth Paltrow’s fine hairdo as loyal assistant Pepper Potts. I actually hated her casting the first time it was mentioned but to her credit, she gives her most energetic and enjoyable performance in years. You feel something for them here and you care about their relationship, though her part may be slightly under-written.

As was Terrence Howard’s role as good pal Jim Rhodes - who in this movie acts as the go between for Stark and U.S. military, allowing him to get away with things normal people just won’t be able to do. More of him next time would be great but it seems like his character is in it for the long haul.

As for the villain, I enjoyed much of what Jeff Bridges did when he was playing the warm-hearted friend and mentor to Tony and as we have seen in the past he makes a terrific bad guy but as soon as he puts on the suit he kinda bores ya. But he’s a good first villain - similar kind of arc to Liam Neeson’s part in Begins and although hardly memorable - it is difficult to stand above this film’s lead.

So it’s pretty kick ass over all. The action sequences for the most part are terrific - it manages to fulfil all the summer blockbuster criteria of big explosions, gadgets and the like with the special effects staying extremely high with very little moments of disappointment.

Iron Man is the movie Michael Bay tried or maybe should have tried a lot harder to make with the Transformers. It’s well written, doesn’t fully insult your intelligence, it’s lauded with great jokes and one-liners but not the “let’s creep around so the parents can’t see us” kind and is made by a director who understands this material - and knows exactly what he is doing.

Director Jon Favreau who is really making a big step up from his usual fare here (Elf, Zathura, Swingers) directs his first big-budget action vehicle and does it very well and he should be extremely proud of his work here. There’s more talented and experienced directors who have attempted this genre and haven’t been as successful as Favreau. His love for the character and his undeniable high production values and commitment in creating a unique and interesting feel for Tony Stark and his world is very much to the film’s huge benefit. He knows what the fans want and for the most part he has delivered it.

There are plenty of problems to be hard here for sure. As is beginning to become the norm with comic book movies, the third act is absolutely terrible. It feels majorly rushed, never seems to run at a coherent pace and when the big battle comes at the end you have dialogue and awkwardness which sometimes suggests why a literal adaptation of a comic book page is not the way to go.

I think this will come apparent from more frequent viewings but 2/3rd’s of the flick are great. 85% of the movie rules.

It was a brave move when Marvel decided to stop letting other studio’s play with their characters and to start fully financing the movies themselves but it has paid off big time here. This is a proper comic book film which is one of the best to watch as an adult. There’s so much potential for this series of films and the universe Marvel is creating if they continue making films as loud and brass as this.

This is very much a Robert Downey Jr vehicle and it’s great to see him fully blown into the spotlight here. This is an extremely bold and confident start from Marvel and I’m very much excited to see where this is taken. We get hints to lots of future things here… including mentions of a certain organisation and maybe next time we shall get a look at War Machine. “Next time baby, next time” says Jim Rhodes 2/3rd’s into the movie.

And I would be happy to see it. Bring on the sequel!

Directed by: Jon Favreau

Written by: Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway

Based on the classic Marvel characters created by Stan Lee, Don Heck, Larry Lieber, Jack Kirby

Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Leslie Bibb, Shaun Toub, Faran Tahir, Bill Smitrovich, Clark Gregg, Jon Favreau, Stan Lee

Distributed by Paramount Pictures

Film is released worldwide this week (April 30 - May 2nd 2008)… check your local cinema for exact date & time of first showings.

Review by Michael Edwards

I’ve long been thinking that Iron Man is an interesting comic book adaptation. Not quite up there with the fan bases of the illustrated megastars like those eclectic X-Men, kooky Fantastic Four or magnificent lone crusaders known as Superman, Spiderman and Batman but nonetheless an interestingly layered chap with conflicting personality traits and a few cool gadgets plus a wadge of cash to play with. In terms of the real names tied to the project we have Jon Favreau directing his first action film along with a host of big name celebs who are also, for the most part, action amateurs. Could it be a combination that leads to the kind of overly dialogue-driven origin film, but with a better selected cast to bear the burden? Well I say no! It’s somehow formed an amazingly satisfying Hollywood soup that left me hungering for more.

The backstory has been updated from the original by relocating the kidnap of weapons magnate and all-round business/technology genius Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) to Afghanistan rather than Vietnam, and there are a few obvious tweaks to fit the Hollywood format but otherwise the opening tale remains pretty faithful. After his kidnap, Stark manages to build a massive metal suit that not only provides him armour but has an impressive arsenal too, armed with this he escapes his captors and destroys their weapons cache which, much to Stark’s concern, comes from his much beloved all-American arms company. On his return he renounces his lifestyle of boozing and womanising decides he doesn’t want to be involved in the tawdry business anymore, and instead develops his suit and goes off to right his company’s wrongs. But little does he know his father-figure and long term mentor is about to become a crazed villain bent on stealing his ideas and wreaking destruction who he must fight in order to prevent his new technology causing even more pain and devastation. And within all that there’s even a few obligatory cameos and inserted retro memorabilia for the hardcore fans out there.

The main thing you should’ve all realised by now is what a masterstroke the casting was. Robert Downey Jr as a wise guy playboy who is prone to drinking and womanising but gives it all up to live a decent life, Jeff Bridges as a deceptively warm-hearted, cuddly father figure who turns out to be a power hungry psycho. How can no-one have noticed how perfect this is before! Thank god somebody finally had the guts to move away from the pitiful selection of typecast action heroes and resist the urge of wheeling out half dead relics from the 80’s to make their cash in the glitzy world of Hollywood. It really is refreshing.

In terms of the action sequences, and let’s face it that’s what’s make-or-break for a comic book franchise, (need I hold up the first yawn fest that was the first Fantastic Four movie as evidence?), those of you who think Transformers was the best movie ever may suggest that there could have been more but I personally think the balance was just right. The rapid pace and surplus of explosions and combat in the opening 15 minutes whets the appetite, and we are kept ticking over by the occasional skirmish or comedic explosion during the fine-tuning of Iron Man’s suit as the unfolding of the backstory of the eponymous hero unfolds, and there are a few large scale fights in which the special effects and CGI more than holds its own against the big boys. Iron Man fights terrorists, fighter jets and bigger mechanical suits with equal gusto, allowing us to sit back and enjoy the visual orgy of crunching metal, screaming missiles and blistering explosions with glee.

My biggest concern is that people have become too bogged down in looking at these first movies about a comic book character as ‘origin movies’ designed to set-up a franchise, but I think Iron Man holds up as a film in it’s own right and still managed to leave you hoping that there will be more. It beats the hell out of all the Spider-Man films, makes Superman look like a bland little goody goody, and has the Fantastic Four feeling all embarrassed about how boring and stupid they look. In the last 10 years or so I’d say only the X-Men have had more to offer as a comic book adaptation. Buy hey, second best isn’t bad!

Written and Directed by: Joby Harold

Starring: Hayden Christensen, Jessica Alba, Terrence Howard, Lena Olin, Christopher McDonald, Sam Roberts, Arlis Howard, Fischer Stevens, David Harbour

Distributed by The Weinstein Company

Film is out now in the U.S. and will be released on Friday 4th April 2008 in the U.K.

Review by Michael Edwards

I’m pretty sure I won’t be the only reviewer opening with this line, but seeing as how the makers of this film didn’t care about originality I don’t think I will: It’s incredibly ironic that a film entitled Awake left a majority of the audience asleep by the end of it. This film is an unbearably boring affair that takes a vaguely interesting concept, tags on a laughable dramatic storyline and feeds it with some of the worst acting talent ever to grace the silver screen.

The glimmer of hope that lies within the premise is the rare medical condition called “anesthetic awareness” where a surgery patient can feel each piercing cut of the scalpel blade, but is unable to move or speak. Those of you who managed to catch The Diving Bell and the Butterfly [OWF Review] will know that there is a raft of filmic techniques that can poignantly bring alive the experiences of those poor souls who suffer such misfortunes, a well-delivered internal monologue and some cleverly constructed camerawork can draw the viewer into the frustrating inner turmoil held up on screen. Sadly, Awake suffered from two major flaws which prevented such audio-visual splendor: Hayden Christensen and an excruciatingly uninspired and frankly farcical dramatic subplot. The basis is the stupidly named Clayton Beresford, Jr (Christensen) is a high-flyer in finance, having inherited his father’s investment firm he now commands great financial wealth, huge business acumen, masses of international respect and a beautiful fiancee (Jessica Alba). But sadly, he has a heart defect. I’m sure most of you can feel the tears welling up already but wait, it gets worse, his mother is really overprotective in a creepy Freudian way and won’t accept that he wants a girlfriend. Plus, there are unforeseen rumblings of dastardly ploys below the surface of this tale. Curious? Well don’t be, it’s actually really stupid.

The plot twists are hilariously contrived, and are mostly triggered by tenuous Scooby-Doo-esque clues that only the worlds greatest conspiracy theorists plus the unrealistic robodetectives of this woeful tale bother to look into. Worse still, in one instance these ‘clues’ are pieced together in a single montage scene which would embarrass even the worst whodunnit B-Movie directors of the 1950s. ‘The fact that she knew the button on the coffee machine needed to be held down for a bit longer than normal instantly told me she’d been here before’… I mean seriously guys, come on!!!

But lets stand back for a moment. Sometimes mediocre films can be salvaged by a decent cast, and even a badly scripted film can be turned around through improvisation and a strong screen presence - so there’s hope!…. Oh, wait. No. It’s a common statement in Hollywood that, for all her charm and good looks, Jessica Alba can’t act. Right? So surely with her in a lead role you’d want her accompanied by a dynamic figure, one whose voice can convey the terror and trauma of feeling every incision of a surgical procedure through emotion-infused voice-over. Right? So why oh why would you think ‘I know! Let’s cast the second most wooden guy in Hollywood, (after Josh Hartnett - he’s pitiful, I don’t care what anyone says), and plus he’s been in the Star Wars prequels, that’s perfect experience for playing a traumatised rich kid undergoing surgery.’ I really feel like I understand the thought processes of serial killers better than I could ever comprehend what was going on in the minds of the writers and casting directors of Awake.

Do I need to summarise? I think not. But I will add one thing: you may have heard that Jessica Alba does a ‘nude’ scene. This is true. But frankly, for the hour and a half of uncomfortable writhing either side of this single moment of visual pleasure it’s really not worth it. Just do an image search online, it’ll be up somewhere.

AWAKE is out in the States now, and hits the UK on Friday 4th April. Take cover!!