Initial Reviews of Iron Man 3 from overseas

The first 31 reviews from overseas are overwhelmingly positive. Despite the serious looking trailers, the movie is supposed to be constant gags. Most critics like the humor, but so far only 2 negative reviews are recorded, with statements "constant need to puncture every half-serious moment with a tongue-in-cheek gag grows tiresome quickly" and a similar comment from the second reviewer who deplored the need to make everything into a "big joke".

The character of "Jack Sparrow" will probably remain the most lucrative movie part ever for an actor, but "Tony Stark" is going to be a good candidate for second place. While "Peter Parker" was up three times for one actor, this is the fourth time for Robert Downey Jr. playing Tony Stark. He received $50 million for the 3rd time, and he is locked into a contract to play him for a 5th time.

I must have missed Iron Man 1 and Iron Man 2 (though I imagine Iron Man 1 was styled as simply Iron Man).
I thought those were athletic competitions relating to two marathons, a swim and some other things all in one day.
I didn't know they were movies.

I'll have to hang out more near one of those little red boxes and see more movies.

Is Robert Downey Jr, proving to be a bankable star then? I understand that Val Kilmer and he were uninsurable when they did Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Downey for drugs, Kilmer for a one-punch knockout of then top-ranked actor Tom Cruise over a dispute about Scientology.

Quote: Fleastiff

Is Robert Downey Jr, proving to be a bankable star then? I understand that Val Kilmer and he were uninsurable when they did Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Downey for drugs, Kilmer for a one-punch knockout of then top-ranked actor Tom Cruise over a dispute about Scientology.

Robert Downey Jr has an incredibly long history in movies, as he has been in about 50 films. His biggest hit was when he was age 21 and starred in a Rodney Dangerfield movie called "Back to School".


He won a lot of awards for Chaplin, even though it didn't make much money. Shortly after that point he started to go publicly nuts from the drugs. The worst of it was over by 2005 when he made Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, but he was probably still uninsurable. Interestingly enough it was Mel Gibson who paid his insurance so that he could act a few years earlier. Then people would withhold most of his salary so that he would stay out of trouble long enough to finish the film.

But he never had a mega-success until Iron Man in 2008. Since then he has been very bankable with the massive salaries and big hits.

I must have missed alot of these movies.

I remember In The Heat of the Night wherein the gum-chewing cop actor never broke character for the entire movie and probably single handedly transformed the morals of the teamsters and extras. Of course he billed the producers for something like six hundred boxes of chewing gum!

During the filming of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Val Kilmer kept up the "gay" routine relentlessly pursuing poor Robert Downey Jr., while they each pursued the newly engaged Michele Monaghan who cracked up one shoot by going down on a dummy she had just head-butted. In comparing the gag reel to the movie its surprising how much of the flubs and bloopers made the final cut simply because the facial expressions were so good.

I never did get the full details of that one punch Christian Scientist versus Scientologist bout, once the top ranked actor is lying on the floor out cold, its for certain someone won't be insurable for awhile.

Quote: Fleastiff

I must have missed alot of these movies.

During the filming of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Val Kilmer kept up the "gay" routine relentlessly pursuing poor Robert Downey Jr., while they each pursued the newly engaged Michele Monaghan who cracked up one shoot by going down on a dummy she had just head-butted.

This movie KKBB got decent reviews. I am surprised they only released it in 226 theaters (it sold less than a million tickets).

Will Downey suit up again after $175M 'IM3' haul?

It seems like a stupid question. Who would walk away from a franchise this successful? He has his whole life to make movies about crazy street musicians. Nobody walks away from that kind of money.

I don't know... at some point the marginal utility must decrease and also the actual amount obtained must decrease as additional leeches, er uh, artists representatives, hold out their hands for a piece of the pie.

Of course who would do a sappy story about a street musician who hears voices or a down on his luck reporter but for the money in it?

Quote: Fleastiff

Of course who would do a sappy story about a street musician who hears voices or a down on his luck reporter but for the money in it?

Downey received a Best Actor nomination in 1993 for Chaplin (1992). In 1995 he was paid $500K for a movie called "Danger Zone" co-starring Billy Zane. It was around this time that he started smoking heroin instead of smoking coke. The film was released direct to video the following year after he was thrown in jail.

For Iron Man (2008) he was paid the same $500K he had earned 13 years earlier for "Danger Zone". He made "The soloist" since it took nearly a year between filming Iron Man and it's release in theaters. I don't know what kind of money he earned for the "sappy movie"

Iron Man Filming Dates (12 March 2007 - 25 June 2007)
The Soloist Filming Dates January 2008
Iron Man Release in theaters May 2008
Sherlock Holmes filming dates (October 2008 - January 2009)
The Soloist released April 2009

By the time Sherlock Holmes was filming he was getting paid $9m for the film.

Quote: Pacomartin

By the time Sherlock Holmes was filming he was getting paid $9m for the film.

I liked him better in Sherlock Holmes than Iron Man.

He's a first rate actor -- portrayal of an urban black dude.