Fox is looking at Avengers‘ $1.45 billion global take and getting ready to dust off some Marvel properties for a fresh round of reboots. Aside from their one-two X-Men punch with The Wolverine and First Class 2, the studio is hard at work cranking out fresh takes for both Fantastic Four and Daredevil. As we learned today, both projects are moving forward with varying degrees of success:
- Josh Trank, director of the excellent Chronicle, will now be sitting in the director’s chair of the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot. Even though he’s a new kid on the block, Trank’s proving he’s got chops. So this is an inspired choice on Fox’s part. No word on a screenwriter as yet but one can only hope that this turns out to be a Chronicle reunion, as Max Landis would surely be up to the task.
- According to Deadline, Daredevil is now losing their director, David Slade. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse helmer is walking away due to scheduling conflicts – as Slade is scheduled to shoot NBC’s pilot for Hannibal. This comes to the chagrin of the studio, who finally felt that had a workable script worth shooting.
Honestly, it would be nice to see Fox take their time with these. That most certainly won’t be the case however, as the rights to these properties can revert back to Marvel. So I’d imagine there’s a predetermined timetable for cranking these new takes out. Of the two, I would be ecstatic if Fantastic Four got back into Marvel / Disney’s hands at somepoint soon. Even if it means losing Trank as director, Fox already screwed these characters up once.
Prepare to be inundated with more breaking news like this as Comic Con trudges full steam ahead. Still, do be sure to go outside and get some fresh air once and awhile.