Iron Man sequel news (1 Viewer)

[Cory S.]

Jason,

The Last Stand may have been profitable compared to Superman Returns but is it honestly the sequel to X-Men and X2?

And let's be honest, it wasn't that much more profitable than X2 considering it's budget. It made something like 20 million more than X2, which is nothing to brag about, if you ask me.

 

[Kachi Khatri]

If I was Marvel, I would be doing everything I could to secure him and give him the time/space needed. With Iron Man being a second tier character but Favreau did not treat the material with a second tier mentality and the payoff was huge in terms of success.

The main reason the film succeeds is Downey and Favreau (his direction was good, not that great) and the script was ok.

Favreau has seen the output and can improve upon many things while maintaining the same tonal atmosphere similar to what Singer accomplished with X-Men.

 

[Sam Favate]

Sounds like the studio and the director are in discussions right now and all of this is part of their campaigns to get something they want from the deal.

 

[Jason Seaver]

Eh, I liked it. Part of it was just the fact that Zak Penn managed to basically write a big summer tentpole picture that was a big metaphor for abortion rights and it seemed nobody picked up on it, and because they didn't feel the need to keep the characters in perpetual stasis. It felt like a good, knock-down drag-out last battle.

I don't care about Superman Returns being profitable or not - X3 was a better movie. Looking at what basically the same team as did X-Men and X2 did instead, I do kind of feel like Marvel dodged a bit of a bullet, even if the end result was far from perfect.

As to the current situation, I think Marvel and Favreau are basically negotiating in the press. Both parties would prefer Favreau direct Iron Man 2, but neither wants the other to take it for granted. I half-suspect that Marvel staking out 30 April 2010 as the sequel's release date is part of that - bumping it six months to a year wouldn't be that big a deal, but this puts pressure on Favreau and every other replaceable part of the production (arguably everybody but Robert Downey Jr.) to sign on quickly rather than hold out for more.

 

[JonZ]

Everything Harry said is correct.

"And that information, in conjunction with Marvel announcing FIVE movies the minute IM is a hit, concerns me in a BIG way."

Well alot of those movies have been in development forever.


"Actually pushing a 2 year sequel without a script/contracts is pretty scary."

I agree.


"If I was Marvel, I would be doing everything I could to secure him and give him the time/space needed. With Iron Man being a second tier character but Favreau did not treat the material with a second tier mentality and the payoff was huge in terms of success."

Agree again. When the studio backs off and gives creative freedom to the filmmakers who care, it usually means a good or great result. When they dont we get Spiderman3 and X3.

X3 is disappointing on so many levels. I went into all that in that thread awhile back and Im not rehash it here. BUT IMHO the Xmen franchise was handled VERY poorly and a real missed opportunity.

 

[Paul_Scott]

I'm shocked....SHOCKED...that the company that once instituted new comics sealed in polybags, triple varient foil covers, and gave Rob Liefeld a career, could look like they may just start to hack these movies out after a first good effort.

as far as the X films go, I was just thinking the other night how poorly Singer and Co. set up not only a third film, but also their own second films conclusion. It made very little sense in the world that film made, that Scott would be babysitting Xavier on his visit to Magneto in jail. Just as it didn't make sense that Jean and Storm would go tracking down a potentially rouge mutant. The latter job was for a team leader, and the former for someone that would be more of a care-giver.
Even putting aside that logic- if the intention was to kill off Jean at the end for a possible resurrection in a further film, it would have made more sense if she was more 'screwed around with' in the second movie. Putting her thru the mind-control ringer would have better set-up her death, as well as her resurrection as a 'villan'. The marginalzation of Scott Summers in the X films are still a big disappointment for me, especially when from a story standpoint, that marginalization weakens the integrity and logic of the plotting.
I say all that because it still bugs me how many people over rate X2 and then bash X3. Part of the underwhelming nature of X3 was the compromises the studio made with it, but another part that nobody ever mentions was how poorly X2 set it up. Just killing off jean arbitrarily in the last minutes was no way to kick off the Dark Phoenix storyline. It was just a cheap bone thrown to the fanboys.

which getting back to the tread at hand, is something I hope Marvel realizes in time, is not enough to do now that they are running the show.

 

[Cory S.]

Paul,

Singer was adamant that Scott was going to get his movie with his X3. I mean, I thought the end of X2 pretty much signaled that. The first two films were all set up for a epic third film, helmed by Singer until Fox got stupid...

 

[Zack Gibbs]

Except that reportedly Favreau isn't asking for anything more than the standard director's fee and has said himself they haven't contacted him in 5 weeks.

 

[Phil Florian]

Didn't we hear this with New Line and Peter Jackson? And here we are, years later, and the Hobbit and another LOTR movie are coming out with Jackson and Friends in charge (if not behind the camera, but that is small beans when you have someone as great as Del Toro behind the lens). I am thinking that folks on here are right when they say this is likely some public posturing. If Downey Jr. says "no" because he agrees with Favreau, game over. They won't make the movie without him or would be foolish to do so. Instead, they should be sitting down with all the talented parties interested in this new Marvel U. movies (a first?? This many characters connected in a series of non-sequel movies??) and trying to find a way to make this work. Do a couple or more simultaneously with shared actors doing their jobs on both or more sets (like Fury, of course). Again, back to Jackson. His biggest contribution to the LOTR series, in my opinion, wasn't his writing (he insisted on the dwarf toss joke) or directing (it was great, but...) but instead it was logistics. He filmed 3 movies simultaneously and sat as general over gobs of "other" unit shoots while still keeping track of his own. It nearly killed him based on how tired he looked by the end but no one can argue that it didn't work. Marvel needs to tackle this new method in a similar way, I would think. Get one general in charge to coordinate multiple shoots and time it just right. I think they are going in too willy nilly to do that so far. We will see.

Seriously, though, I think it is far too early to count Favreau and Downey out.

That said, I can't wait for the DVD! When? When?!

 

[TravisR]

At a guess, October.

 

[troy evans]

We'll, in my opinion the main reason the film succeeds is Robert Downey Jr. period. Followed by a great script that highlights what makes him such an incredible talent. You could give the directing duties to any competent action director and be fine. It all comes down to acting and writing. Those aspects are far more important as we've all seen time and time again.

 

[Jason Seaver]

I don't know about that - Favreau was the guy who insisted on using practical effects wherever possible, and having an actor at the helm might have been why the character elements were emphasized. Also, I don't think one should ignore how central Favreau was in helping this film build momentum - he worked a lot of rooms and did a lot of interviews over the past year or so to sell comic fans and the mainstream on Iron Man, Downey, etc.

 

[DavidPla]

I agree. Favreau was just as important as the script and Downey. I don't care how great the script is, unless the director knows how to interpret said script the film can still turn out terrible even with a great script. And Favreau knew how to use Downey where a less competent director may not have gotten such a stellar performance out of him.

 

[troy evans]

Consider this, if Tom Cruise had landed the role( which was rumored back in the day) even with Favreau's directing, we would have had a very different film. One thing Iron Man did for me no other superhero film did was, I loved watching Downey as Stark just as much as Iron Man. That says something. Another actor may not have captured the character as well. As far as Favreau on directing, I didn't see anything overwhelmingly great that another competent director couldn't have handled. If Iron Man 2 comes out and Favreau isn't directing it, that won't be as big a deal as opposed to Downey not coming back. I was reminded very recently how well received Downey's Stark character was and Favreau had nothing to do with it in this instance. Oh and Jason, I agree. I think X3 was far better than people knock it for considering what it had to overcome.

 

[Ed Moroughan]

I'd like to see the Mandarin in the next film and Titanium Man in the third. Although, wouldn't TM be a bit redundant after Iron Monger?

 

[troy evans]

They could do Fin Fang Foom in the third film using the Mandarin to set it up. You could have a potential Iron Man meets Cloverfield on your hands with that story.

 

[Ed Moroughan]

 

[Will_C]

Well, I don't know how long it would take them to get the storyline together with all the characters in the Avengers, but I think a really amazing threat for them to fight, along with every other hero in the Marvel Universe, is Ragnarok. The Thor comics did the story back in the mid 80's, but just imagine dark gods with armies of frost/storm giants, fire demons, dark elves, trolls, goblins and legions of the dead and damned pouring out to bring about the Apocalypse! Not that they could afford to have all the Avengers characters (including Thor and Hulk), to share screen time with the X-Men, The F4, Spiderman and Dr. Strange, but it would be one hell (pun intended) of a story. Actually, it makes me want to go root through all my stored comics with a couple hundred issues of Thor right now and re-read the story.

 

[oscar_merkx]

Just returned from seeing the Hulk which was far better than expected.

Loved Downey's cameo at the end

 

[Steve_Tk]

I was reading on another forum, someone was speculating about Iron Man 2, and Stark's cameo at the end of TIH. They were all speculating about Hulk being in IM2 and IM possibly catching the hulk. Doesn't seem like this would work though, because they have already portrayed Hulk as a "hero", in IM wouldn't he have to be the "villian"?