Jon Favreau Signs on for 'Iron Man 2'

It shouldn't have taken so long, but Marvel and Jon Favreau have finally inked a deal to bring the director back for Iron Man 2. Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood reported the deal yesterday, which locks up the two biggest components of Iron Man's tremendous success. Robert Downey Jr. had a sequel clause in his original contract, according to Finke's report.

I'm glad Marvel did this, not specifically because I felt Favreau did a great job or anything, but because I don't understand the theory of fixing what's not broken. It's better to bring back the people responsible for the film's success, and however many of them there are, you certainly try to make concessions to each of them. The reason for that, of course, is Iron Man developed a huge and we suspect intensely loyal fanbase.

Hiring, say, Betty Thomas to direct the second Iron Man would lead to an initial backlash and possibly one when the film is released. Certainly, if a second film uses a different director and it's not as good, you get a Joel Schumacher-Batman scenario, and nobody wants that.

Lots of people loved Favreau's direction, but I wasn't bowled over. I didn't get anything from the film that I'd say was a signature of the director, not that that's always needed. Even still, it's better to dance with the one that brought you, to borrow a phrase. He did handle the adaptation very well, and kept a lot of important elements from the comic that other directors might have ditched for more action. That's a definite point in his favor.

I do disagree with Finke calling Favreau an asshole during the negotiation process. I thought he answered the questions fairly and, from his perspective, accurately. The deal to make Transformers 2 was consummated the week after the film came out last summer, so there's no reason Favreau should have waited for an appropriate offer for two months. He felt he deserved a raise, and it's hard to argue that based on the film's success. If Marvel hired the guy for the first movie and it beat expectations commercially and to a large extent critically, what else does he need to do to warrant a pay hike?

The only question now is whether or not the negotiations knock Iron Man 2 off of its early summer 2010 release date. Favreau has already expressed concerns about doing it too quickly, and with Downey's dance card filling up by the day, it's a concern to take seriously.

Posted on Thursday, July 10, 2008 at 11:13AM by

Colin Boyd in Comic Book Movies, Iron Man, Marvel Comics, Robert Downey Jr, Jon Favreau |

1 Comment

Reader Comments (1)

It's very good news to see Marvel finally did what they should have done a week after the films release,when it was obvoius to everyone then that the film would be a monster hit and sign Favreau to not only one picture but a two picture deal to helm IM 2 and IM 3.
I agree that Marvel's time table for IM2's release is very doubtful and should be pushed pack to June of July 2010 at the very least, giving Favreau and cast time to make a quality sequal, as yet they have no writers or even a working script, as well as making sure all the actors are locked up for the sequel.
As for Jon's handling of the questions asked of him during the time between the films release and signing, he was honest and forthcoming, which if anyone who followed his handling of the film and his relationship with the fans, was not out of character and quit frankly justified, he was asking the same questions the fans were, why haven't I been signed, you can't blame him for wondering what else he needed to do to promote the film and help make the success it turned out to be, Marvel needs to take some blame for dragging their feet and locking Jon into a deal, while I understand Marvel's attention had shifted to the Hulk, Marvel is big enough to take a few moments and reward the directer of their first successful film.
Congrats Jon and I'm looking forword to what he and Mr. Downey have in store for us fans for IM2.

Saturday, July 12, 2008 |

Ken R.

Post a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.

My response is on my own website »

Author:

Author Email (optional):

Author URL (optional):

Post:

↓ | ↑

Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>

Stalk The Big Picture!