After months of speculation of what would happen after the next three Marvel Studios movies (“Thor” in May, “Captain America” in July and “The Avengers” in 2012), today director of the first two Iron Man films Jon Favreau has announced that he will not be directing the third installment of the franchise, currently on track to follow the Avengers movie next year. Favreau sites in this L.A. Times interview as his motivation to jump off was in order to “find something that lights a fire” inside of him creatively and that a new start would be “easier to do with a project that isn’t loaded with built-in expectations.” His next film after “Cowboys & Aliens” is “Magic Kingdom” which some have called “A Night At The Museum” at Disneyland. Not totally blown away by that premise seeing as many of the big Disney rides at the theme park have already been turned into successful Hollywood films (Pirates Of The Caribbean), will soon be rebooted (Haunted Mansion) or are derived from major film franchises (Indiana Jones) but hopefully Favreau can work his magic on the Magic Kingdom.
Personally, I’m okay with seeing Favreau go. Credit is due to the man for turning Iron Man into the success it was and essentially raising the level and recognition of Marvel Studios to the level where they could negotiate crazy 9 picture deals with actors and laying the groundwork for all Marvel fanboys like myself to see the Marvel Universe expand on the big screen. And although I wouldn’t call “Iron Man 2? a failure, it definitely didn’t spark like the first film did and maybe getting some new blood in the directors chair might be what the franchise needs. What do you think? Will the franchise never recover from this or did the outlook just get a little better in your book? Also, what director would you like to see helm the further adventures of Tony Stark? Chime in!