Since director David Slade (The Twilight Saga: Eclipse) decided to pass on the proposed Daredevil reboot in favour of the Hannibal TV pilot, 20th Century Fox has been facing a race against the clock to get the film into production before October 10th, at which point the rights to the character are set to revert to Disney and Marvel Studios. Despite eyeing Joe Carnahan (The A-Team,The Grey) as Slade’s replacement, it seems that Fox has now given up on its quest to bring the Man Without Fear back to the screen and will instead allow the rights to lapse. “Think my idea for a certain retro, red-suited, Serpico-styled superhero went up in smoke today kids,” wrote Carnahan on Twitter yesterday. “We shall see. Time is NOT on anyone’s side.”
According to Deadline, Marvel has refused both an extension to the rights, as well as the option of co-financing the film alongside Fox, and will instead reacquire the rights to the character, much as it has done with The Punisher (previously at Lionsgate) and Blade (previously at New Line Cinema). It’s thought that Carnahan may still possibly get his wish to direct a Daredevil reboot, albeit under the Disney umbrella; however, it remains to be seen whether Carnahan’s gritty 70s-style feel will fit with Marvel’s vision for the Cinematic Universe. Nevertheless, for a taste of how Daredevil might have shaped up under Carnahan, check out these two ‘sizzle reels’ which the director has posted to Twitter…
Now that Daredevil is out of the picture, Fox will focus its attentions on its upcoming X-Men spin-offs The Wolverine (2013) and X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), along with another proposed reboot, Fantastic Four, which is currently in development under Chronicle director Josh Trank. Meanwhile, Variety claim that despite losing the Daredevil rights, Fox will hold on to Elektra… so if they get really desperate, there’s always the possibility of a sequel to 2005’s Jennifer Garner-headlined travesty…
Originally published August 15, 2012. Updated April 10, 2018.
