According to New York Magazine's
Vulture blog, it seems Jon Favreau, loyal directing of the
Iron Man franchise, has parted ways with Marvel Studios in directing the much-anticipated third installment.
UPDATE #2: Favreau
tweets:
"It's true, I'm directing Magic Kingdom, not Iron Man 3. I've had a great run with Marvel and wish them the best."
UPDATE: Deadline further confirms that Favreau is guaranteed Out!
"Favreau is excited about the opportunity to go do his own thing" while Kevin Feige as the ultimate custodian of the Iron Man franchise "sees it as an opportunity to bring some more fire to the franchise". Favreau will still exec produce The Avengers."
"Insiders tell Vulture that Favreau has just informed Marvel Studios that he won't direct a third Iron Man film. [Some] industry insiders look at Favreau's growing price tag and speculate that he was getting too expensive for the equally frugal Marvel and its parent company, Disney. In fact, one Hollywood player familiar with Marvel's playbook theorizes that the company had been pushing a confusing and packed vision of the third film as a tactic to provoke Favreau into leaving the project.
Receiving $10 million for the Iron Man sequel, it's unclear what he'd be seeking for a third film, but reps familiar with these sorts of gross participation deals tell Vulture that he likely would command $12 million to $15 million up front, plus a 15 percent percent of the gross after the film recouped. Regardless of why, we’re told that Marvel quietly began the process of finding a director to replace Favreau last night. But Marvel’s task is complicated by the fact that Downey Jr. has both contractually negotiated director approval and is currently the hottest leading man in Hollywood with first pick of dozens of "go" movies around town."
Currently working on
Cowboys & Aliens, in a recent interview with MTV, Favreau revealed plans, only in theory for
Iron Man 3, so it'd only makes sense to break things off with Marvel early. Anyhow, Vulture further states Marvel execs hope to put a director on the project to guide its development as soon as possible. Only wonders for Happy Hogan, but more info is soon to come.
And I'm assuming the film will remain targeted for a May 3, 2013 release, with Disney distributing. What do you think?