Shocking News: Favreau Will Direct Iron Man 2

I’m really getting tired of saying this.

Ok, everyone can breathe easy now, including all those websites that were hyperventilating and saying that Jon Favreau might not return to direct Iron Man 2. According to Deadline Hollywood Daily Favreau has accepted an offer from the studio to helm the Iron Man sequel. It hasn’t been officially announced yet, but as far as I’m concerned this news is golden.

I first felt the need to emphasize that Favreau would direct Iron Man 2 a couple of months ago when other sites started gnawing at their own appendages over the possibility that he would not return for the sequel. It was always a foregone conclusion that Favs would return for the sequel, just as Bryan Singer did for X-Men 2 and Sam Raimi did for Spider-Man 2. The suits at Marvel aren’t idiots… Iron Man has brought in over $560 million worldwide so far - and the second movie in a superhero franchise generally earns as much, if not more than the first one.

And then one month ago when we posted that he had indeed been offered the director’s chair and that we could all relax, the first commenter on the post (with the oh so witty moniker “CAA God”) was quick to call us morons because Favreau hadn’t accepted the offer. So hey pal, if you’re still reading Screen Rant, put that in your pipe and smoke it, m’kay?

And speaking of morons, that’s what Robert over at IESB called Nikki Finke of DHD for making this statement:

“David Maisel was quick to put out a ‘definitely’ richer offer to Favreau, but not quick enough for Jon — who used the Internet and other media to rile up the movie’s many fans by spreading nonsense that Marvel was dragging its feet and then lowballing him. Granted Maisel is no day at the beach himself, but, seriously, could Favreau have been more of an a**hole?”

Come on, Nikki, they announced a release date for the movie without even having spoken to Jon about the sequel… he deserves the lion’s share of the credit for the success of the film for directing it AND choosing Robert Downey Jr. to play the lead. And for that they were going to offer him not much more than what they paid him to do the first movie, when they had no idea whether it would succeed or bomb. The next one is guaranteed to bring in at least $500 million - the guy deserves a killer slice of that pie.

I’m sure the rest of the cast will return - I only know for sure that Robert Downey Jr. is contractually obligated for a sequel.

No word yet on whether they’re going to stick with their May 2010 release date, which Favreau has stated doesn’t give him enough time to deliver a quality film.

Source: Deadline Hollywood Daily via AICN

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