Iron Man 3 Will Have a New Director

It's fairly clear at this point that the success of "Iron Man" was the launching pad for Marvel Studios. The first film in the franchise was an amazing success and the sequel also did extremely well. Based off it's box office numbers Marvel has been able to put "Thor,""Captain America," and "The Avengers" into production and each of those is expected to also pay high dividends. While there were many factors involved in the success of "Iron Man" undoubtedly one of the key elements was director Jon Favreau. Favreau helped develop the story line and pushed for Robert Downey Jr to be hired as the lead. And now the acclaimed director is reported to be leaving the franchise he helped turn into a global blockbuster.

Vulture (of New York Magazine Online) reports that Favreau has decided to pass on directing "Iron Man 3." The film isn't expected to to even begin production until 2012 however it's planned to pick up fairly quickly on the heels of "The Avengers." There are several possible reasons for the director's departure. One possibility is that he didn't care for the working conditions. "Iron Man 2" had a rushed production schedule and it's rumored that the script hadn't even been finished when the cameras started rolling. In fact Marvel nearly weren't able to bring Favreau back for the first sequel because he didn't want to be rushed. In and an interview with MTV Favreau seemed a bit put off by the massive crossovers and whole film world that Marvel is building. He said "This whole world... I have no idea what it is. I don't think they do either, from conversations I've had with those guys."

Another possible reason for Favreau's departure may be money. Marvel Studios has been extremely careful about keeping their budgets under control, often low balling big name actors (it was rumored that they almost weren't able to get Samuel L. Jackson or Mickey Rourke for "Iron Man 2" because they were making such low offers.) Favreau's stock is steadily going up and to hire him back for another "Iron Man" would undoubtedly cost the studio even more than they paid him for the last film (which was around $10 million.) From a strictly financial angle it would make sense to bring in a less expensive director. In fact some of the more conspiratorial minded insiders have speculated that Marvel has purposefully been planning an overly crammed "Iron Man 3" for the purposes of turning Favreau off from the project.

Marvel will likely start looking for a new director fairly soon. Even though the film isn't due to start filming for almost two years there is still a great deal of pre-production work that needs to be done. Also Robert Downey Jr's contract gives him director approval so the studio will want enough time to be sure that they get the star's OK before proceeding. It will be interesting to see what kind of director Marvel lines up. Their choices of directors so far have been interesting and varied: Joss Whedon for "The Avengers" is best known for his television work and Kenneth Branagh for "Thor" is more renowned for his Shakespearean films than anything else. That said Marvel is not completely about unlikely directors as Joe Johnston is not an outlandish choice to direct "Captain America," as most of his films (such as "Jurassic Park III" and "The Wolfman") have had a mix of action and special effects. Since the tone and feel of the "Iron Man" films has already been set by Favreau it seems more likely that Marvel will favor a director who will keep with the established feel rather than try to put too much of their own stamp on the franchise.

Favreau is currently finishing up post-production on next year's "Cowboys & Aliens" and from there will direct "Magic Kingdom" for Disney (which is the Marvel's parent company.) There is no script in place yet for "Iron Man 3" and in fact it doesn't even look like a clear story has been laid out. This is likely because Marvel will want it to follow up fairly directly from "The Avengers." Marvel probably won't want to make too many concrete decisions until that film is finished or close to it.