Marvel Studios has just confirmed early this month that “Iron Man 4” is not one of the three anonymous films that will be released in 2020 to complete Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
There have been previous speculations that “Iron Man 4” is one of the three untitled Marvel movies to hit the cinemas in 2020 including one on May 1, one on July 10, and the last one on November 6.
With the confirmation that “Iron Man 4” is not going to be any one of those three upcoming Marvel movies in 2020, the earliest therefore that the movie could come out on theaters is in 2021.
However, latest rumors swirling around these days regarding “Iron Man 4” mostly focus on the supposedly failed negotiation between Marvel Studios and Robert Downey Jr., the actor who has been playing the role of Tony Stark and Iron Man since 2008.
Initial reports were saying that Robert Downey Jr. demanded an increase of $50 million for his supposed salary for “Iron Man 4” which would likely put the figure in the range of $130 to $180 million since his salary for “Captain America: Civil War” shown in May this year reached a whopping $80 million.
He is set to do at least three more movies as Tony Stark / Iron Man from 2017 to 2019 including “Spider-Man: Homecoming” in 2017, “Avengers: Infinity War Part 1” in 2018, and “Avengers: Infinity War Part 2” in 2019. Thus, it is expected that the actor would break the $100 million salary from any of those three movies. So for “Iron Man 4,” he would then get an additional $50 million more.
Not viable from the business perspective
Marvel Studios would have no problem giving in to the salary demands of Robert Downey Jr. for $50 million for “Iron Man 4” since the movie is expected to easily join the $1 billion box-office club anyway. However, what stalled the reported negotiations is when the actor ask instead to receive a percentage of the “Iron Man 4” income instead of agreeing to a fixed salary.
The offer is not palatable to Marvel Studios since agreeing to such would eventually eat up on its profit considering that it would also have to shoulder the multi-million expense in producing the movie, notes the Parent Herald.
Critics believe that Downey’s offer is simply not viable from the business perspective unless he himself agrees to co-produce the film, in which case he deserves to get a share of the profits.
Such strategy has been employed by Tom Cruise in most of his movies and his gamble eventually paid off. Perhaps it is high time that Robert Downey Jr. also considers the same since the “Iron Man” franchise has been proven to be very bankable so there is very minimal financial risk on his investment in the film.
Born to play Iron Man
There have been rumors saying that Marvel is planning to recast the role of Tony Stark / Iron Man because Robert Downey Jr. no longer wants to do it because of the age factor. There are also reports saying that it is his salary for the possible “Iron Man 4” that is giving Marvel Studios the second thought whether to proceed with him as Tony Stark / Iron Man or not.
There are also speculations from some MCU critics that giving the role of Tony Stark / Iron Man to another actor would make the franchise really look awkward.
They also add that recasting the role to feature another actor or actress just like in the comic books would not have the same cinematic impact as having Robert Downey Jr. playing the part. Nothing beats the original, so they say, details Mobile & Apps.