Reports have been going around as of late that Marvel Studios is still uncertain whether to release a fourth “Iron Man” movie sometime in the future or not.
The nearest that future could happen is in 2020 since Marvel has already made public the release date calendar for its 14 movies starting from 2016 up to 2020. Marvel left the three movies to be released in 2020 as anonymous and called it as mystery movies.
Most of the speculations about the factors that could deter Marvel Studios from proceeding with “Iron Man 4” have something more to do with the salary of Robert Downey Jr., his age, and the fact that a fourth “Iron Man” movie could further expand the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
However, some critics are now saying that Marvel Studios is deferring its decision on “Iron Man 4” because of the very important factor of viewer saturation.
Apparently, Marvel is thinking very strategic at this point since Warner Bros will be challenging the film outfit in the box-office beginning this year with an array of films based on DC Comics.
Marvel has had a headstart on Warner Bros/DC in the box office since it started the superhero genre series with “Iron Man” back in 2012 and has built on its gains ever since. Marvel has had a string of box-office successes as a result. But with the impending entry of the DC Comics character in the superhero genre films, things will definitely change.
It is possible that by the time that 2020 comes, viewers would have had enough of quarterly servings of superhero movies that most have already lost appetite for it. The law of supply and demand also applies to box-office demand after all.
A bankable actor
While Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man is the most bankable among the Avengers superheroes, he is also the most expensive and it is possible that if he finally agrees to do “Iron Man 4” around 2019, his asking price might be not less than $100 million, notes the Christian Today.
But Marvel Studios and its parent company Disney Pictures shall have no problem meeting the asking price of RDJ since practically all their movies with Iron Man on it made lots of money. In fact, three Marvel movies that are on the list of the Top 10 highest grossing movies of all time had Iron Man on it including “Marvel’s The Avengers,” “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” and “Iron Man 3.”
Of those three movies, Robert Downey Jr. was paid $80 million for “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” $50 million for “Iron Man 3,” and a little less for “Marvel’s The Avengers.”
He will be appearing again as Tony Stark / Iron Man in the upcoming Marvel movie “Captain America: Civil War” due to hit theaters on May 6, 2016 and it would not be surprising if the film breaks into the list of the Top 10 highest grossing movies of all time. Robert Downey Jr. is being paid $40 million for the third movie of the Captain America trilogy.
Still has enough to charm the audience?
Marvel Studios has helped revived the sagging career of Robert Downey Jr., turning him into the world’s highest-paid actor for three years running based on Forbes’ annual list.
All of those acting assignments had Robert Downey Jr. taking on the role of billionaire Tony Stark and his superhero alter ego Iron Man also made him a worldwide phenomenon that he is today.
RDJ as Tony Stark / Iron Man has been in five Marvel movies so far – “Iron Man,” “Iron Man 2,” “Iron Man 3,” “Marvel’s Avengers,” and “Avengers: Age of Ultron” – that netted him close to $250 million.
MCU is CHEAP. Making BILLIONS off of RDJ and worrying about salary? There is NO Iron Man without RDJ and MCU needs to deal with it. As far as “saturation” is concerned, just check out the daily media coverage regarding Iron Man 4 to see what the PUBLIC wants.
I really, really, really, really hope Robert Downey Jr. reprises his role as Iron Man/Tony Stark in Iron Man 4. I hope Marvel makes Iron Man 4 with RDJ as Iron Man/Tony Stark one last time in the current MCU.