Daredevil reboot in doubt, while Fantastic Four moves forward

Before the formation of Marvel Studio's, the rights to several Marvel Characters went to different  studios with, to name a few, Sony bagging Spider-Man after many years and 'you scratch my back I'll scratch yours' deal, and Fox getting the lions share with X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Daredevil,. But there was one proviso: if the rights aren't acted on, and a film isn't made using the characters after a set amount, the rights revert back to Marvel, and straight into the hands of Marvel Studios and Disney. Unsurprisingly, nobody wants that to happen, and this explains the number of franchise reboots over the last few years, including X-Men: First Class and The Amazing Spider-Man. Two other high profile reboots, both for Fox, were Fantastic Four and Daredevil, and the studio has been moving forward with these projects with varying degrees of success.

Director David Slade (30 Days Of Night, Hard Candy) had signed on for Daredevil, which was rumored to be sequel in the same vain as Incredible Hulk was to Hulk (the original was kept canon, but with new actors and some changes made to the overall story), working from a script which adapted the famous Born Again storyline from the comics. This would see Matt Murdock's life fall apart, as part of a plan by the Kingpin to tip him over into madness. Plans were moving steadily, with an Autumn start date for production, but it has now been announced that Slade has dropped out of the project, due to commitments on the upcoming Hannibal Lecter t.v. series, Hannibal. This puts Fox up against the wall. The movie has to make the Autumn start date to stop the rights reverting back, so the search is on for a director. This echos the situation with X-Men: First Class, (director Matthew Vaughn was brought on at the last minute) so it could either way really.

Happier news for Fox comes in the form of director Josh Trank (Chronicle) signing on to helm the Fantastic Four reboot, a project he was rumored with for a long time. The film is currently on the fast track, and will feature a new cast. Though there is no word as of yet on possible actors.

Source: Deadline