Jon Favreau has been saying some very positive things about the Internet fan base for the Iron Man film and saying how they helped him shape ideas.

He also says that part of it all is addressing the fears of the Internet audience, the very same audience who then go on and help advertise the film.

Jon Favreau has this spot on, he knows exactly how to interact with the internet audience and he's doing it perfectly, and at the same time he's getting to make his film the way he wants it.

Other film-makers should perhaps take a leaf out of his, or his marketing company's, book and perhaps hire them for their films.

Here's what he said in an interview over at Moviehole:

"I think it becomes a bit of a game of cat-and-mouse between the filmmakers and the online community, because you want to keep surprises, but you want to keep it fresh and obviously, by websites constantly talking about your film, the film remains fresh. There's a whole rhythm of give-and-take that goes on between the filmmaking community and the Internet community. Some people get it, some don't."

Jon Favreau / Edward Norton. In fact he talks about the very situation that both Marvel and Norton now think they are in.

I did it so that I could address things about the movie to them - even if it was just letting them know that some things [they'd heard] weren't the case. There's a great frustration when you don't have a voice in that community that the information could kind of snowball out of control, and rumours can be kind of hard to quash. If you have a presence, and a voice, and you have a forum in which you can communicate with the fans, it's a terrific thing.

See? It's that easy. There's no argument that Favreau has it right with Iron Man, and it does help that he's got an untainted superhero franchise, with a huge fan base, that he's treating just right.

Film-makers take note, and engage with, don't preach to and try to command, the Internet audience. Oh, and while we're at it, don't just feed them titbits and hope that they'll stick with you.