10 Genius Times Studios Beat The Film Director
6. Dismissing Edgar Wright As Director (But Keeping His Script) - Ant-Man
Marvel fans were elated when Edgar Wright was hired to write and direct Ant-Man, and then positively crushed when he and Marvel parted ways on the project shortly before shooting was set to begin.
In more recent years it's emerged that Wright grew frustrated with Marvel Studios' desire to strip away his own filmmaking flourishes and ensure the film remained part of their cohesive cinematic universe.
And so, Marvel ultimately decided to dismiss Wright and bring in a more malleable filmmaker, Peyton Reed, to basically work as a hired gun.
From Marvel's perspective it certainly made sense for one good reason: despite Wright's departure, he'd still given the production the strong bones of a script, which were then rewritten to more appropriately fit the tone of the MCU.
While significant changes were made to Wright and Joe Cornish's original script, many cast members over the years have revealed that the fundamentals of the story and many of the ideas were indeed Wright and Cornish's.
And so, though we technically never got the Edgar Wright Ant-Man movie we wanted, Marvel Studios nevertheless got to retain the filmmaker's better ideas while shaping it into something better aligned with their own goals.
Despite the initial outrage over Wright's departure, it was a smart call from a business perspective.