It looks like Joe Carnahan's idea for a reboot of Daredevil has been shelved. The filmmaker, who has been working with 20th Century Fox on an idea for a new darker, grittier movie about the blind superhero, took to Twitter this evening to say that the most recent development with the project is that it probably won't be happening.
"Think my idea for a certain retro, red-suited, Serpico-styled superhero went up in smoke today kids," Carnahan Tweeted. "We shall see. Time is NOT on anyone's side." It was reported recently that Fox has only until October 10th to start production on a new Daredevil movie, and if they don't make that deadline then the rights will revert back to Marvel and open the door for Marvel Studios to start developing a project based on the character.
Last week there was a rumor that Fox was talking with Marvel about a possible deal that could be made where Fox would get more time to develop a Daredevil movie in exchange for Fantastic Four characters such as Galactus and The Silver Surfer. A little while later it was said that Fox doesn't want to give up those characters because they are currently also in the midst of rebooting Fantastic Four, and don't want to hamper the potential future of the franchise (the movie already has Josh Trank and Jeremy Slater set to direct and write, respectively).
This new development with Carnahan could mean a lot of things. It could be that Fox is throwing in the towel and doesn't want to spend any more money on development, or they could be trying to find a quicker, dirtier way to make the movie happen faster so that they can retain the rights. It probably won't be long until the picture clears up.
