The Kidd here...
If you've been waiting, hoping and wishing for Marvel to get their hands back on the rights of some of the properties they had sold away in the past, then today is your lucky day. No, they're not getting back Spider-Man or the X-Men, but the Silver Surfer and Galactus may be in play, and all it's going to cost Marvel is a little more time without Daredevil.
Let me explain...
20th Century Fox has been trying to get something started with a DAREDEVIL reboot for awhile now, ever since Ben Affleck and Mark Steven Johnson damaged the property with their subpar 2003 solo film for the character. David Slade has been attached for quite some time, although there has hardly been significant progress in getting a new film into production.
And now Fox's backs are against the wall.
According to Variety, unless Fox has a new DAREDEVIL picture in front of cameras by October 10, the rights to Daredevil would then revert back to Marvel Studios. But not so fast...
Fox has plans to turn DAREDEVIL into a "Frank Miller-esque, hardcore 70s thriller" with none other than Joe Carnahan at the helm... but it's going to take them a little more time to get such a film together, much later than that October deadline.
So here comes Marvel coming to the negotiating table with all the leverage in the world, willing to let Fox extend their time frame in order to make the less family-friendly version of DAREDEVIL.
But what do they want in return? Silver Surfer and Galactus.
Marvel is willing to trade that extended use of Daredevil in exchange for the right to use characters from the Fantastic Four segment of the Marvel Universe, with their eyes set on Silver Surfer and Galactus for use in their further expansion of the Marvel Movie Universe, post-AVENGERS.
Josh Trank is attached to direct a FANTASTIC FOUR reboot for Fox, but that doesn't mean the Surfer or Galactus has to be a part of his vision for the foursome. It also means we may be moving closer to bringing the rights together for quite a few of these characters with Marvel Studios perhaps partnering up with Fox on future pictures that may involve those whose rights don't belong to Marvel currently.
Negotiations are ongoing, and really the choice is Fox's right now. They can risk losing Daredevil for nothing, as October is rapidly approaching and looks like an impossible date to make in order to hold onto those rights, or they can offer up a couple of characters that don't hold as much value to them in order to proceed with Joe Carnahan doing DAREDEVIL. It's quite clear which characters are most important to each studio, so let's see this deal happen, and some really quality flicks made as a result, because just the possibilities of such an agreement are extremely exciting.
-Billy Donnelly
"The Infamous Billy The Kidd"
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