For the last few years, corporate tie-ins have grown more and more lucrative as flexible directors have become increasingly willing to abandon their artistic visions and include obvious and confusing product placements. Transformers seemed to push the bar to a whole new trough thanks to Camaros and Mountain Dew vending machines, but Iron Man isn’t ready to forfeit the sponsorship lead just yet.
According to Variety, Robert Downey Jr. will drive Audi’s new R8 supercar in the upcoming film. Tony Stark, Iron Man’s alter ego, will also drive an Audi. Isn’t that just cute? Many have speculated that the car manufacturer’s involvement stems from Marvel being apprehensive about financing Iron Man by themselves. This partnership will help to remove a little bit of the enormous monetary weight on their shoulders.
I can’t help but laugh at how this picture seems to be the antithesis of Jon Favreau’s breakout Swingers. The struggling actor picture was mostly shot on the fly with many of the extras being random people that happened to be in the bar while they were shooting. It gave it a nice raw energy, as oppossed to this which will more than likely end up a bloated mess. I’ve never written off Favreau before and I don’t plan on doing it now, but let’s just say I’m finding more reasons to doubt everyday.
