About a week ago, the IESB was tipped off by a junior source at Marvel Studios that there had been some delays with Jon's negotiations regarding the sequel. When asked why I was told that Marvel and Favreau hadn't been able to come to terms regarding money.

At first I thought my source was full of shit and I dismissed it as a rumor. This last Friday I was contacted by another source at Marvel and this one, let's just say, is much higher up on the food chain, and told me that the chairman of Marvel Studios David Maisel who has been in charge of negotiating new terms with Favreau is being cheap and not willing to pay a fair directors' fee.

Favreau was a bargain to begin with, he is after all a fairly new director even though he has had several commercially successful films under his belt when he was brought aboard Iron Man for a steal.

Don't know exact numbers but I am sure that it wasn’t a Michael Bay/Brett Ratner/Bryan Singer paycheck. He had to prove himself after all and looking at what the box office and DVD sales are going to bring in, around $750-800 million, I'd say he did his job well, very well.

So according to our source at Marvel, Jon was expecting a moderate bump in his fee for the sequel but apparently Marvel has other plans.

Our source continues that Maisel believes Iron Man 2 will be a success regardless of Favreau's involvement and feels the studio does not need to pay Jon a higher fee for his services.

This is the most disappointing news that I have heard coming out of Hollywood in years, is Marvel out of their Vulcan mind?

So bottom line, Jon Favreau has not been locked in to direct Iron Man 2 for the simple reason that Marvel is being cheap - this is 100% accurate folks, no bullshit.

This is completely disheartening. Iron Man was the first real Marvel production on their own two feet and Favreau came through like a champ. He gave credibility to the studio, hell, I'd even say he MADE the studio.

If that movie had bombed and he hadn't done his job right Marvel wouldn't be making the plans for the future like they are now. They would be going back to making films with other studio partners like they always have.

It's time for Marvel to return the favor - give the guy his fee (which I hear is the regular standard director's fee, no more), bring him back and kick some ass with IRON MAN 2!

I've contacted Marvel Studios who quickly asked us to contact their publicists over at Principal Communication Group for comment.

In regards to the March production start date that Terrence Howard talked about in his interview with Military.com, Paul Pflug from Principal Communications gave us a standard "no comment."

So what about Jon coming back to direct Iron Man 2?

The official statement is that they are still negotiating with Favreau.

Interesting…negotiations huh? Take a look at what Favreau posted on his official MySpace page just yesterday:

It’s been five weeks since the one and only phone call my reps have gotten from Marvel. I know their hands are full with the Hulk and I’m sure they will get into it shortly, as they tell me they intend to. I ran into the Marvel guys at the Hulk premiere and everyone sounded eager to get to work on IM2.

I am concerned, however, about the announced release date of April 2010. Neither Robert nor I were consulted about this and we are both concerned about how realistic the date is in light of the fact that we have no script, story or even writers hired yet. This genre of movie is best when it is done thoughtfully and with plenty of preparation. It might be better to follow the BB/DK, X/X2 three year release pattern than to scramble for a date. It is difficult because there are no Marvel 09 releases and they need product, but I also think we owe it to the fans to have a great version of IM2 and, at this point, we would have less time to make it than the first one."

One call five weeks ago is not what I consider "negotiations."

Enough said. I have double checked with my sources again at Marvel who are sticking to their story, negotiations - if you want to call them that - are not going well.

What do you think? Email me at robert@iesb.net and I'll be sure to send your thoughts on to Marvel Studios…

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comment on AICN:

Regarding the rumors that Marvel won't bring back Jon Favreau for IRON MAN 2...

Hey folks, Harry here... IESB.net broke a story about how they're hearing that the reason Jon Favreau isn't secured to direct IRON MAN 2 is that Marvel Studios Head Honcho - David Maisel is skimping and being cheap regards to making Jon Favreau's deal.

I wish I could come on here and say I know otherwise, but sadly I know otherwise. There is a very very strong chance that unless David Maisel pulls his head out of his ass and work on this deal - you'll see Jon Favreau directing anything but an IRON MAN 2 or an AVENGERS movie.

While the details of Favreau's deal on the first IRON MAN are not public knowledge - he was paid an upfront fee - with real backend participation. Given the success that is clearly happening with IRON MAN - this deal is going to reward MARVEL STUDIOS greatly.

That said - MARVEL should look back at their own Comic History - their history of fucking over the talent and artists that created much of their library often resulted in those artist leaving the company... creating incredibly profitable characters for other companies and for themselves - resulting in lost revenue for MARVEL that had they treated their artists fairly and justly - rewarding those that brought in the rewards for the company... well, maybe Marvel's comic branch wouldn't have been through such a grotesque roller coaster ride.

Jon Favreau wants to do more IRON MAN movies. He would love to play in the Marvel Universe. Sadly... David Maisel is penny pinching his own company into a malignant purplenurple.

MARVEL STUDIOS has - officially two movies under their belt. IRON MAN & THE INCREDIBLE HULK. Both of which are outstanding films that do a better job of exploiting their characters than anything the Studio system has done so far. However - MARVEL INVESTORS - watch carefully what happens here. If you see MARVEL unwilling to do what is necessary to keep the talent in play - then forget about MARVEL STUDIOS becoming the Pixar of Superhero films.

PIXAR is the model of how to do this. They not only developed internal talent, but hired great talent from other companies - and they're doing everything in their power to keep those incredibly talented and creative people happily working in house.
Running a studio and creating franchises is all about Talent management - and if MARVEL doesn't step up and do the right thing - then all our dreams about a great MARVEL UNIVERSE will begin to wash away.

When I brought this up with Kevin Feige at the Austin screening of THE INCREDIBLE HULK - he said they would be working with Favreau - but that isn't what I've heard from other sources - and it isn't what IESB is hearing either.
The dream of MARVEL STUDIOS is that we don't see stupid decisions like what we saw happen with Fox on X-MEN - where they resort to bringing in "talent" to take over and destroy the work that was already in play.
MARVEL has the opportunity to create franchises that last - not for a few years, but for decades. But they have to make the right decisions and be willing to work with the artists that will grow and evolve the properties into franchises that are worth existing. When an artists' run grows stale, that's when you change horses - not after the first win.

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I would never forgive Marvel if they "give" Iron Man to another director... We have to get ready to fight back!