Iron Man 3

[enoajnin]

It's never too early to start pimping for Iron Man 3. This is the one that is going to be filmed and partially financed with Chinese financiers so I thought it was appropriate.

Originally Posted by Neon Punch

As we lead up to The Avengers premiere in Hong Kong this Thursday, pre-production reports have started for the next Marvel movie Iron Man 3.

We have an inside source close to the negotiations that says our very own Andy Lau 劉德華 is close to signing on to be in Iron Man 3 which is being co-financed and shot in China this Summer.

We know that Ben Kingsley and Guy Pearce have already been cast as villains and that Scarlett Johansson and Don Cheadle will reprise their roles as the Black Widow and War Machine – so who will Andy Lau play in this ever-growing cast?

If you know the comics, one of Iron Man’s major foes is The Mandarin – an evil Chinese warlord with 10 magical rings (hey its a comic remember) that is posed to take over the world with Ancient magic from China. Here is the character from the Iron Man animated series:

So all signs are pointing that the leader of the Ten Rings which was hinted at in the first Iron Man might in fact be The Mandarin and who better to play him than one of the biggest stars in Asia?

We imagine Andy’s role to be more like Ken Watanabe‘s in Batman Begins though so don’t expect to see any witty back-and-forth with Robert Downey Jr. although you never know since China has a hand in paying the bills this time!

Of course this is still just rumor and speculation, but we have a feeling an announcement will be made soon. More as it develops!

UPDATE 1:
We want to follow up on this post after a bunch of emails from some of our readers and friends phone calls – most likely if this is true (or any other Chinese star is cast) the chances of them playing a VILLAIN with Chinese funding will probably not happen.
Fans of Infernal Affairs know how the ending was changed in China WITH Andy Lau’s character.

And even more recently Chow Yun Fat’s pirate character was completely edited out of the China version of “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” due to Chinese being portrayed as “evil” in Western films and to the masses in China.

We’re going to have to pour over our Iron Man comics this week to try and figure out who he might play if he indeed gets cast.
We’re going to stick to the news that Kingsley and Pearce will be the major villains of the film and any Chinese actors will HELP Iron Man defeat them.

UPDATE 2:
Since we posted this story we’re getting more info:

Andy Lau has not signed on yet. “Final negotiations” are under way – we assume that to mean “money.”
Andy Lau’s character will NOT be The Mandarin – oops, there goes our headline.
Andy Lau’s character will be an OLD FRIEND OF TONY STARK’S that represents China’s technology sector – and will use China’s armored heroes to HELP Iron Man defeat “The Mandarin” who is seen as a terrorist against both the US and China.

Wow, the more we hear about this the movie starts to take shape if you add in the Extremis storyline where Guy Pearce plays Aldrich Killian the man who creates the Extremis virus that forces Tony Stark to bond with his armor and to become one with the suit! Ben Kingsley perhaps playing the head villain and leader of a group called The Mandarin or posing as a Chinese threat to start a war of Iron Men.

Let the guessing continue as we dig deeper!

[GeneChing]

There was mention of the Chinese factor here in our Chollywood thread.

[GeneChing]

Fan Bingbing for "Iron Man 3"?
From Cinema Online Exclusively for Yahoo! NewsroomBy Casey Lee | From Cinema Online Exclusively for Yahoo! Newsroom – Sat, May 26, 2012 11:45 AM SGT

26 May – Mainland Chinese actress Fan Bingbing is the new name that has been added list of potential cast for Marvel's highly anticipated "Iron Man 3", although the likelihood that the actress will be casted is better than that of Hong Kong megastar Andy Lau.

According to Jayne Stars, DMG Entertainment, the Chinese arm that will be co-producing "Iron Man 3" with Walt Disney, has revealed that they have already contacted Fan Bingbing's agents and are waiting to begin talks for her to appear in the next instalment of the superhero franchise. However, Mintz said that they have yet to make contact with Lau, but did not deny the possibility of his future involvement.

Other than Fan, DMG Entertainment Group CEO Dan Mintz also revealed that they have already contacted Chinese actress Yao Chen and actor Liu Ye to take up other roles in the movie.

"Iron Man 3" is the first of 25 upcoming films that would be released in China. To penetrate into their vast market, DMG Entertainment would be incorporating numerous Chinese actors and elements into the film.

Currently, the scheduled release date for "Iron Man 3" in U.S. is May 2013, with shooting to begin sometime in late summer this year.

For archival sake, here's the IM1 thread and the Avengers thread.

[GeneChing]

This doesn't surprise me.

Stark rejection: Andy Lau turns down role in Iron Man 3
Staff Reporter
2012-06-22
08:41 (GMT+8)

Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau has pulled out of a potential role in Iron Man 3 to spend more time with his newborn daughter, reports our Chinese-language sister paper Want Daily.

The 50-year-old Lau, one of Hong Kong's most successful film and music stars since the 1980s, was rumored to have a starring role in the third installment of the blockbuster Iron Man franchise alongside Robert Downey Jr. The film, scheduled for release in May 2013, marks the first time a Chinese production company will be co-producing a Hollywood movie. Production for the film began in the US last month and its crew have reportedly begun scouting shooting locations in China.

Chinese media now report that Lau has pulled out of possible involvement due to the birth of his first child with wife Carol Chu on May 9. The Shanghai-based Oriental Morning Post reported that the producers of the film had contacted Lau but were turned down.

Dan Mintz, one of the producers of the film and the CEO of DMG Entertainment Group, told reporters on Tuesday in Shanghai that one of the Chinese character roles would likely be filled by a male actor over the age of 40 with strong English skills.

With Lau out, the frontrunners for the role are now said to be Chinese actors Chen Daoming and Wu Xiubo. The 57-year-old Chen is highly respected for his versatility and is perhaps best known for playing Emperor Qin Shi Huang in the 2002 film Hero, while the 43-year-old Wu rose to acclaim as the protagonist in the Chinese television drama Before the Dawn.

Chinese actresses contacted by casting reportedly include 32-year-old Yao Chen, who holds the largest number of fans on the popular Chinese microblog Sina Weibo, and 30-year-old Fan Bingbing, the country's top-earning actress.

"The audience will be familiar with the Asian faces in Iron Man 3; our stand is to invest and produce a Chinese flavor and Chinese element international film," Mintz said last month, when the film was still in its initial casting phase.

Mintz said the idea of collaborating with a Chinese production company arose from the film's plot, not the other way around. The producer insisted that the film's stars will be chosen for their suitability for the role and not their impact on the Chinese box office.

[JamesC]

He's 50!?

Geez. I look older than him and i'm only 26. Crap.

[SimonM]

No great loss - Fan Bingbing is much easier on the eyes than Andy Lau anyway.

[GeneChing]

Good question...

What can Iron Man 3 shoot in China?
What can Iron Man 3 shoot in China?
By Patrick Frater
Mon, 23 July 2012, 09:15 AM (HKT)
Production Feature


What, if anything, will Marvel's Iron Man 3 鋼鐵俠３ be able to shoot in China?

The third movie in the Iron Man superhero series was given a partially Chinese theme and structured as a Chinese-US co-venture to maximise its commercial chances in the world's fastest-growing film market.

But at last weekend's Comic-Con convention in San Diego, US, it emerged that the film's China shoot will be tokenistic.

The film's director Shane BLACK addressed fans and media at Comic-Con and said that neither he nor the cast expect to travel to China. He revealed that a crew will be sent to China to film plate shots, which can later frame 'green screen' sequences shot in the US.

"I assume that when the plates crew goes over to China to film the plates while I'm standing by my swimming pool, that it will go really well," he said at the event. "I'll probably go to China for the premiere," said Black in another Comic-Con interview.

That's far from the position proposed in April when Marvel, Walt Disney Company China and China's DMG Entertainment ＤＭＧ娛樂傳媒集團 announced that the $250 million film would be a China-US co-production and that DMG would co-invest, co-produce and co-distribute.

And it has become clear that Iron Man 3 has still not yet received the approvals it needs to be considered as a China co-production, a status needed to get around China's import quotas and earn a maximum share of the box office revenues.

In a statement, Marvel told Film Business Asia: "Subject to approval by the Chinese government, the Iron Man 3 production hopes to film scenes in China with cast and crew this fall, as well as hold a movie premiere in China with cast members in attendance."

Despite a week of phone calls and emails to offices in the US, China and Hong Kong, Disney has not replied to Film Business Asia's requests for information. The office of Dan MINTZ, head of DMG and executive producer of the film, said: "The reports out there are not true; he is now shooting in the US."

Chinese regulations typically require that a co-production film shoots a significant proportion in the country and includes significant Chinese casting.

Regulations also normally require Chinese government approval of the finished script before shooting begins – as well as approvals for the completed movie. However, films can retroactively become official co-productions at later stages.

However, it may be script issues that are this superhero's most telling frailty.

While American-made superhero films are regularly shown on Chinese screens, they tend to imply failings on the part of civic authorities and have individuals with powers that exceed those of national authorities.

Marvel has previously revealed that the story in Iron Man 3 features an evil Chinese-British character called Mandarin, who has a history of conflict with hero Tony Stark. According to the official Marvel biography, "through his science [Mandarin] rapidly became a power that not even the Chinese Army could successfully challenge."

While Marvel has admitted to seeking out the China audience — Marvel Studios executive, Rob Steffens, told The New York Times that China settings "will enhance the appeal and relevance of our characters in China's fast-growing film marketplace".

If it fails to make the grade as a co-production, all is not necessarily lost for Iron Man 3. Due for release in the US next summer, the film may still be imported into China under the recently-enlarged revenue sharing quota system.

Chinese authorities may however require cuts that remove problematic Chinese elements, as happened with the recent Men In Black 3, where a Chinese restaurant scene was edited out, and the earlier Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. (2007), where CHOW Yun-fat 周潤發's pirate captain was excised.

"The co-production of Iron Man 3 in China is testimony to the importance of this audience to Disney and the local industry capability to deliver a blockbuster title," said Stanley CHEUNG 張志忠, Walt Disney's MD in Greater China, back in April.

Didn't know about those MIB3 and PotC edits. Interesting...

[SimonM]

I knew about the Pirates edit - although the pirate DVDs IN China all included Chow Yun Fat and yet nobody on the street seemed upset over it - I wasn't aware about the MIB 3 edit but that's mostly a testament to my minimal level of interest in the MIB franchise.

[GeneChing]

Iron Man 3 Trailer - Official Marvel | HD
You can see Kingsley as the Mandarin at around 1:09.

[taai gihk yahn]

Originally Posted by GeneChing

Iron Man 3 Trailer - Official Marvel | HD
You can see Kingsley as the Mandarin at around 1:09.

that's interesting - I seem to recall reading somewhere where they swore up and down that while Kingsley was in the movie, he was not going to play Mandarin...

[sanjuro_ronin]

Iron Man needed to be taken down a notch, Stark's arrogance is great, but it's getting old.

Personally, the one movie I am looking forward so far in 2013, Man of Steel.

[MightyB]

There are some weird issues I noticed in the trailer: First, the Mandarin isn't Chinese, 2nd - it looks like Iron Man's fighting Iron Patriot - which is fine if they want to have the Avengers eventually fight the Dark Avengers - but Iron Patriot is Norman Osborn from Spiderman, and Sony owns the rights - so WTF are they doing with the Iron Patriots armor? My nerd sense is tingling. Something is amiss with the on screen Marvel Universe!

Iron Patriot

[Lucas]

Technically The Mandarin is half Chinese and half English.

[MightyB]

So now it's getting stupider for fans of the series.

Turns out it's not the Iron Patriot, it's War Machine painted with the Iron Patriot's colors.



Why does this matter you may ask? It does, it just does. They shouldn't f*ck with story lines like that. With a comic book or cartoon, you have the movie already in good form, it's already been story boarded for you, and you have the ability to cherry pick from existing, solid, and strong story lines and characters. Why do directors feel that they are somehow more intelligent than the artists and writers who created this stuff, and somehow smarter and better than the fans of the original series in comic book form? When they sh!t on the original story, themes and characters, you get the live action version of the Last Airbender. F*ck Hollywood. Why don't they just remake yet another movie from the 90s.

[doug maverick]

Originally Posted by MightyB

There are some weird issues I noticed in the trailer: First, the Mandarin isn't Chinese, 2nd - it looks like Iron Man's fighting Iron Patriot - which is fine if they want to have the Avengers eventually fight the Dark Avengers - but Iron Patriot is Norman Osborn from Spiderman, and Sony owns the rights - so WTF are they doing with the Iron Patriots armor? My nerd sense is tingling. Something is amiss with the on screen Marvel Universe!

Iron Patriot

ok mighty B let me break it down for you.

the iron patriot thing is just a little obvious fan service, and it fits perfectly with the war machine thing, since in that story line rhodey still works for the government. second the mandarin isnt chinese because, the chinese co production company, called the mandarin racist, so they turned manderin into an organization, so the manderin is not a person. shane black is a great director and superb writer, i think this will be a return to form.