Ironman II News

[Geekyfanboy]

Favreau Departs "Iron Man" Franchise
By Garth Franklin Wednesday December 15th 2010 08:50AM

It's nice when a potentially long and drawn out story contains itself quite neatly all in the space of a few hours.

Yesterday a report emerged at Vulture that "Iron Man" and "Iron Man 2" director Jon Favreau had ditched plans to direct the third one in the series.

The report speculates that Favreau's price for the gig might be too high for the now very budget conscious Marvel Studios, and their delays on making decisions and desire to put more of their own superheroes into the third film are a deliberate tactic to force Favreau to depart the project.

Within a few hours, Favreau confirmed the news of his departure on Twitter saying "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."

Shortly after that, Favreau gave an interview to The Los Angeles Times, saying his departure "is no snap decision or the result of fractured relations". The main reason was to "find something that lights a fire" inside of him as a filmmaker which a sequel with a lot of built-in expectations wouldn't afford him. He added that he Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige remain close, Feige himself has been an informal sounding board for "Magic Kingdom" ideas, and Favreay will stay on as a producer on "The Avengers."

In a formal sounding statement, Favreau says "I am happy that I had the opportunity to establish the world that these characters can now play in.... 'Iron Man' has given me tremendous opportunities and Kevin and I are enjoying a lot of momentum in our careers thanks to the 'Iron Man' films. I look forward to seeing what others can do playing in the same world."

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/18927/favreau-departs-iron-man-franchise/