Much to geek chagrin everywhere, Samuel L. Jackson has said he might not return as S.H.I.E.L.D agent Nick Fury in “Iron Man 2,” because Marvel studios was giving him a lowball offer (much like they did Mickey Rourke).
In a recent interview with IGN, Jackson stuck to his story and elaborated a bit on Marvel’s money “crisis.” “I’m not real sure that I’m gonna have the opportunity to do that again because we’ve been having some difficulty coming to an agreement,” he said and added.
“I would love to do it. I’m not sure that they would love for me to do it. It seems as though they’re having money problems. They’re caught up in the economic crisis also. Iron Man 1 didn’t make much money, so they can’t afford to pay the rest of us anymore.”
“Iron Man” didn’t make that much money? Hmm, it grossed $580 million worldwide, its budget was $140 million and let’s estimate high and say it cost another $75 million to market and promote in the U.S. and $75 million worldwide. That’s just a speculative guess, but that’s $290 left, but who knows he’s probably right. We can’t pretend to be a movie studio. This would be a question we’d like to ask someone like David Poland. He’d probably have a better idea. Maybe he’ll weigh in.
Update: OK, now we can finally see the video, thanks awesome Firefox! So obviously Jackson is being really sarcastic here, but it would be still interesting to hear how profitable or un-profitable ‘IM1’ actually was. We just talked to Poland who said he’s doing his breakdown.