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Fox's 'Daredevil' Movie No More?

With the deadline quickly approaching, Fox could lose the film rights to Daredevil.

If you follow Marvel and superhero movie news at all then you know that in order for studios like Sony and Fox to retain the rights to use Marvel characters like Daredevil and Spider-Man in their movies, these companies need to keep making movies based on these characters. Back in 2003, Fox had purchased the rights to use Daredevil, Elektra, Kingpin and Bullseye (oh, and Foggy Nelson, too) for their movie Daredevil, starring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner. That was in 2003.

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In order for Fox to keep the rights to use those characters, they will have to launch a Daredevil film into production starting this October -- that's a little less than two months away. Now, if you anything about the way Hollywood works, then you know that it can sometimes take months to get a project off the ground because of all the things you need to make a movie. The film company needs a script, a cast, a director to helm the project and of course, funding -- and that's just the tip of the iceberg. So, what are the chances that Fox will have all those things ready to go this October in order to retain the rights to Daredevil? According to Director Joe Carnahan (The Grey, Narc) who is tied to the project, not very likely. Carnahan took to Twitter to hint that the project may have "gone up in smoke."

== TEASER ==

ā€œThink my idea for a certain retro, red-suited, Serpico-styled superhero went up in smoke today kidsā€¦ā€œWe shall see. Time is NOT on anyoneā€™s side.ā€

Most of us who love superhero movies can probably agree that Fox's Daredevil film wasn't exactly the best superhero movie (no offense to those of you who love the film). In fact, we bet that most DD fans wouldn't mind seeing a different Daredevil movie adaptation come into fruition. And according to a report by Variety (courtesy of EW), as of last week, there was still a slight chance that an extension could happen. Apparently, Marvel Studios was willing to give Fox a deadline extension on Daredevil in exchange for the rights to Silver Surfer and Galactus. However, it seems Fox is already planning a relaunch of Fantastic Four (a package which both Silver Surfer and Galactus are part of) by Josh Trank (Chonicle). However, Fantastic Four characters aren't the only properties being held onto by Fox -- many of the X-Men have been nabbed as well, so perhaps Fox will be willing to give some of those up in order to obtain an extension on Daredevil? We will have to wait and see. What do you think of the fact the Fox wants to relaunch Daredevil? Would you rather see the property revert to Marvel Studios? Would you like to see Marvel launch a Daredevil movie?

Source: EW and Variety

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BiteMe-Fanboy

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Edited By BiteMe-Fanboy

Marvel needs rights to FF before they bother with Daredevil.

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Necrotic_Lycanthrope

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Better leave most of the characters to Marvel. FOX lately is really stepping up their game with X-Men, but it's like Judge Dredd; the failure of one film means less people want anything to do with a second and/or reboot. So send it to Marvel so as they make it more like how Waid re-invented the Man Without Fear.

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the_tree

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Edited By the_tree

Bring him home to Marvel!

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DanialCarroll

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Edited By DanialCarroll

The only problem is, if Marvel get the rights back, I'm pretty sure their calendar if filled up for a while. They seem to have settled on 2 films per year, and considering we've got Iron Man 3, Thor 2, Cap 2, GotG, Hulk 2, Ant-Man, and then Avengers 2, it's going to be quite a wait. I'd be excited as hell for Tony Stark to confer with his red-headed, blind lawyer in Iron Man 3, but having to wait until 2017 to maybe see his tie-in film would just be painful.

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fingernail9

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Edited By fingernail9

Oh man, a film version of Ed Brubakers Daredevil would be awesome! But that would obviously be to dark for Marvel if they ever got the rights back.

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daltonmunnal

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Edited By daltonmunnal

It doesn't matter of Marvel Studios calendar is getting filled up. It's not like the have one small batch of human beings that works on every single movie. They can squeeze in as many movies as they want. The only thing that makes them limit the movies is so 1) People don't get sick of them and 2) they don't end up competing with their own movies.

That said I'd love to see Matt Murdock at least show up in say, Iron Man 3 as Stark's lawyer, before eventually getting his movie, but it's a little too late for them to squeeze him into that story, I would imagine. I'm also excite to hear that they could be getting Surfer and Galactus instead, but I can't help not feeling right about having those two in a universe with no FF.

Can anybody confirm the movie rights status of Namor? Did he go to Fox as an FF character? Or maybe to Fox because he's a mutant? I really want Namor to appear in the MCU... like... badly.

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TheHeat

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Edited By TheHeat
@cmaprice said:

No way Fox would surrender rights to any X-Men in exchange for Daredevil.
Ā 
X-Men is their Marvel cash cow, sadly.Ā 
Ā 
It's a shame that the properties Marvel has been regaining recently, namely Punisher, Blade, and Daredevil, are the properties that are arguably too dark for Disney to produce proper films. Ā These characters would make for a great street-level hero response to the Avengers films. A crossover franchise called Marvel Knights or something along those lines? Yes please.

Yep. I doubt Disney green lights any of these films due to their dark tone and violence. But then again, Disney has done R-rated movies before. I believe "No Country for Old Men" was a Buena Vista film.
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MrMiracle77

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Edited By MrMiracle77

It wouldn't surprise me if Fox just let Daredevil go.Ā  Having only bought the rights to Kingpin and Bullseye, they've already burned up their only two key DD villains with one movie.Ā  The time and money it takes to start the film all over again from scratch is substantial.Ā  Plus Fox's three licenses; Daredevil, Fantastic Four, and X-Men; share at most a tentative connection with each other.Ā  They don't have the advantage Marvel had with the Avengers, where each movie connected with the ones before and teased at events in the future.Ā 

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__transgojobot__

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Edited By __transgojobot__

Fox won't give up anything having to do with the 'Fantastic Four' (i.e. Surfer & Galactus). I just can't see them doing it. It's unfortunate because I would love to see FF re-integrated into Marvel's growing cinema universe. Then, there can be cameos with 'Guardians of the Galaxy'; and Tony Stark and Bruce Banner can gleefully add Reed Richards to 'TEAM SCIENCE'. How fun would that be?

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TepidShark

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Edited By TepidShark

Industry sources are now reporting that Fox is indeed planning on letting the deadline lapse and are prepared to lose the rights to Daredevil.

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SpitfireINK

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Edited By SpitfireINK

Marvel/Disney wants the Silver Surfer and Galactus back very very badly.

Let's just hope Fox gets overtly excited about how Marvel's movie properties are doing at the box office and gives up both characters to produce Daredevil.

Guardians of the Galaxy is a sure indicator of where Marvel is heading.

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SpitfireINK

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Edited By SpitfireINK

@Necrotic_Lycanthrope: hmmm... Doesn't really apply in all cases does it?

How many times has Batman been rebooted? 4? Adam West - Keaton - Kilmer - Clooney - Bale

Spider-Man? - while the current version may not appear to be as immediately successful as the Sam Raimi run it still proved to be a major success both domestically and internationally. Additionally, once on DVD/Blu-Ray I think you'll see it perform Amazingly.

X-Men? - slow to start but certainly a powerhouse again worthy of a sequel

So I'm not quite sure what your basing your statement on.

OH let's not forget -- the Fantastic Four -- & -- Captain America -- might want to do a little more research in film history.

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RedheadedAtrocitus

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Let Fox lose it far as I'm concerned and let DD go to Marvel Studios...to a company who can actually do DD right on the silver screen!

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Inverno

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Edited By Inverno

@joshmightbe said:

Hopefully Marvel gets the rights back and makes Daredevil their TV show set in the Cinematic Universe

This would work so much better XD

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Necrotic_Lycanthrope

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@SpitfireINK:

By the looks of things, the rights going back to Marvel is sure thing. (at least for Daredevil)

But I'd give the FF, Surfer and Galactus to Marvel. Fantastic Four 2 was an abomination that should never have been made to begin with. Unless the Chronicle guy can make miracles, I don't see Galactus reaching epic cinematic proportions.

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drewscruff

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Edited By drewscruff

@SpitfireINK: Batman wasn't rebooted 4 times. Technically the Keaton, Kilmer and Clooney Batman's were in the same continuity.

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Necrotic_Lycanthrope

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@SpitfireINK:

I'm one to say the Raimi Spider films where the best, but that's because I haven't watched the new reboot yet (and I freaking obsessed over Doc Ock when I first got into comics)

The reboot looks cool, but the responses I've heard indicate that there where almost too many weird goofs and moments, and that maybe the sequel will be polished up more and less off beat (maybe give us a Lizard with a snout this time)

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Mega_spidey01

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Edited By Mega_spidey01

@They Killed Cap! said:

Fox losing the rites to any marvel product can only be good.
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scottkennard92

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Edited By scottkennard92

I don't think Fox's first attempt at Daredevil was spectacular but I really didn't think it was too bad either. I was kind of excited by the prospect of a 70's era retro hero.

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AdrianOpIvy

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Edited By AdrianOpIvy

@Jonny_Anonymous said:

@k4tzm4n said:

Obviously I think Marvel Studios would do a stellar job with a Daredevil film (if given the chance to make it) - their track record is great so far - but the real question for me is how would it connect to their greater picture? It's clear they're going for a heavily intertwined universe, so it's tough to imagine how they'll find a way to throw Murdock into the mix of powerhouses and such.

I don't think Marvel can make a dark or serious enough film for DD to be good

Exactly, got it in a nut shell. Look at the tone of Marvel's other movies, and then picture: Millar, Bendis, Brubacker, Smith. I can't see a dark enough Daredevil film; while a Waid style reboot would be great, I'm personally a bigger fan of darker work done on the character.

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Teerack

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Edited By Teerack

Yes! I hope Disney get's them all!

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Jonny_Anonymous

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Edited By Jonny_Anonymous

A Disney made Daredevil film? NO THANKS!!!!

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UnderDogs_OverBoard

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Is it just me or this does not matter?

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nszerdy

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Edited By nszerdy

@Jonny_Anonymous: Amen!

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kingjoeg

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Edited By kingjoeg

@cc1738: couldn't they just make a small budget straight to dvd release to keep the rights? Fantastic four did that way back.

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deactivated-5a4e0e8ea3dfb

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The only reason this is at all interesting is the fact that Daredevil is such a great character that really hasn't been given a great platform outside of the comics. Every tv or movie appearance he's made has always had a negative backlash to it, which is sad for a character with such a great comic book history.

Can't remember who said it but want to echo that instead of a movie Daredevil should be used as a tv show set in and with heavy allusions to the current Marvel movie universe (rather than doing a spin-off Avengers show or something more connected to S.H.I.E.L.D). He's the perfect character for tv because he's not really superpowered, low-budget CGI is good enough these days to show off his radar sense, and the story can center around taking down the Kingpin and other organized crime bosses than dealing with a standard villain of the week approach.

The only real change I think Marvel should make to the character to better bring him into a tv/movie universe is taking him out of New York City. Not out of Hell's Kitchen mind you, just out of New York City. Its always been said Marvel puts too many heroes in NYC, so this would be a good opportunity to move a character like Daredevil somewhere else. Hell's Kitchen could be anywhere, and a change of local could also bring a unique mood and atmosphere to the story of this character that we haven't seen before. The top three places that immediately come to mind are:

1. Los Angeles - the closest equivalent to NYC in size and can bring in elements such as Hollywood lawyers and flesh out more of the Matt Murdock aspect of the character

2. Chicago - great organized crime history and connection to American audiences

3. New Orleans - the wildcard of the three but think the atmosphere of New Orleans would go perfectly with the symbolism of a red devil plus events like Katrina, or something similar, could be cited/alluded to in explaining the growing crime rate, rise of the Kingpin, and history of Hell's Kitchen

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TheMtVernonKid82

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Edited By TheMtVernonKid82

I think we all agree send all the characters home where they belong

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Delphic

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Edited By Delphic

With the direction that Fox took Daredevil and Elektra in I hope they give up the rights. Though I have a lot of fond memories of the Daredevil movie, it still wasn't that good, and I'm in denial of the fact that Elektra even happened. I've always had a hard time liking these characters too, even in comic format. I want to like them, but unless something comes along that really grabs my attention that's not going to happen. Perhaps the answer for this would be for a different company that fox producing a daredevil film.

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slapz88

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Edited By slapz88

marvel needs to buy back all their properties. So far they are kicking ass with all of their marvel films. bring it all back home, it might cost a fortune but it would pay off in the long run to be able to play with all of their own toys so other people rnt muckin shit up

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daredevil21134

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Edited By daredevil21134

@Jonny_Anonymous said:

A Disney made Daredevil film? NO THANKS!!!!

It better not be Mark Waid's version of Daredevil.

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Jonny_Anonymous

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Edited By Jonny_Anonymous
@daredevil21134 said:

@Jonny_Anonymous said:

A Disney made Daredevil film? NO THANKS!!!!

It better not be Mark Waid's version of Daredevil.

I think it will be otherwise they won't be able to make it fit with the rest of the filmsĀ 
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SpitfireINK

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Edited By SpitfireINK

Looks like we got our answer today -

Good news everyone! ...

It's official! - Daredevil rights are reverting to Marvel!

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