‘Iron Man 4’: Robert Downey Jr. Breaks News About Movie’s Future

For anyone itching to know the future of the Iron Man movie franchise, the answer appears to have come thanks to its star, Robert Downey, Jr.

In a recent interview with Variety, Downey Jr. addressed the rumors of an Iron Man 4 rather bluntly.

“There isn’t one in the pipe… No, there’s no plan for a fourth ‘Iron Man.'”

For people who have been huge fans of the franchise, it unfortunately does not get much more blunt than that.

The website Cinema Blend explored some of the reasons why Downey Jr. would say there is no future Iron Man 4 in the pipe.

“As, statistically, the biggest draw in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Downey Jr. has long had an upper hand in negotiations with the company — to the point where he even got them to pay him $50 million for his work in ‘The Avengers’ — a figure that he himself has confirmed. Because of these hardball tactics, there was a time when there was a possibility that the Oscar-nominee wouldn’t be in ‘The Avengers 2’ — and writer/director Joss Whedon even said that he wouldn’t do the movie without him. It’s not hard to see why Marvel might not be eager to jump back into contract extension conversations for an ‘Iron Man 4.'”

Just for perspective on how much the Iron Man movie franchise has made on each film, we need to look at the figures provided by Box Office Mojo and see that while Iron Man 3, the latest in the franchise, earned a staggering $409 million worldwide, if you are paying one star a possible $50 million or more for his talents, the profitability of such a venture could be put into serious question.

For all three films, total ticket sales have been nothing short of atmospheric, with the other two films pulling in $318 million (Iron Man) and $312 million (Iron Man 2), for a total box office for all three films of $1.039 billion.

With all three films having performed as well as they did, it becomes a difficult task to surpass each film, especially considering that other films are starting to outperform the Iron Man franchise, like the new Guardians of the Galaxy, whose director thanked fans and addressed passing Iron Man in gross receipts recently.

Tell us what you think. Are you upset that there probably will not be another Iron Man film? And were you looking forward to a possible Iron Man 4?

[Image via Flickr Creative Commons]