Marvel to dump Jon Favreau from IRON MAN 2?

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!

Categories: Iron Man 2, Jon-Favreau, Movie News, Robert-Downey-Jr, Terrence Howard

4 Comments »

Favreau did a fantastic job with Iron Man and the film was a success on both an artistic and business level. When you’ve got something that works and pretty much the same cast ready to go, where’s the sense in dumping the director who co-ordinated all the elements effectively?

Comment by James Clayton | June 11, 2008

Looks like Fav may be dropped from Iron Man 2, Marvel are idiots!(They are just as bad as Warners!) they are famous for treating comic book artists like shite, now it looks like they are trying to do the same thing with the film makers of there projects.
They stand to make an absolute fortune from Iron Man after it comes out on DVD and they are still quibbling over slight rise in Fee for Fav for the second film, what a bunch of arseholes, sounds to me like they want to knock out the sequel as quick as possible and end up with another X-men Last stand.
Considering Fav come up trumps with the first film and has proven to be a more than competent director, it’s not exactally a good move.
I wouldn’t be suprised if Robert Downey walks from the Sequel as well. The Marvel will have shat in there own bed! serves the fuckers right for constantly being stingy bastards.

Comment by The Glove | June 11, 2008

I didn’t think much of having an independent director whose background was in comedy do an action comic book adapatation. I totally expected it to be a disaster, and the film did have too much humor for my tastes.

Okay, Favreau’s first try at bat knocked it out of the park, (I sure as hell didn’t think he had it in him) but unlike Nolan or Singer, Favreau doesn’t have a track record. A great first outing, but not much else. So Maisel’s decision should be put into some kind of context.

Now, that said, it’s obvious Maisel’s going the arrogant route. It was exactly this kind of bahavior which led to Marvel comics filing for bankruptcy in 1997. Guess they still haven’t learned that disrespect can cost them more than any “overpaid” talent.
I’m sure Maisel feels that Marvel did Favreau more of a favor than he did them but what does it say to other filmmakers who might have hoped to build their own trilogy a’ la Peter Jackson? Even if you feel Favreau is overrated (which I do) it still doesn’t make sense to change riders in the middle of the race. Not after he’s recouped Marvel Studios entire $500 million set-aside bankroll in one fell swoop.

Comment by JaySmack | June 11, 2008

BTW According to Nikki Finke’s website the talk about Marvel dumping Favreau is “BS.”

She says Maisel is very early into negotiations and that an insider told her “they’re offering him more.”

Comment by JaySmack | June 12, 2008

The OWF Team