At this point it appears as if Twentieth Century Fox’s plans to take a second attempt at a Daredevil franchise are pretty much dead and the studio is resigned to letting the rights revert back to Marvel in October. The last director that was working on the project was The A-Team helmer Joe Carnahan and he was the one who confirmed that the project was pretty much dead at Fox yesterday.
But Carnahan wasn’t finished with talking about the now moribund project. He also tweeted out the two “sizzle reels” that he assembled to give Fox execs an idea of the type of feel he was going to go for if they gave him a greenlight for the project. And after watching them, I think you’ll agree that it looks like Carnahan was going to bring the equivelent of Frank Miller’s often imitated but never quite duplicated gritty classic run on the comic book character to the big screen in a way that recalls the gritty crime dramas of the 1970s. Take a look and you’ll probably recognize shots from Taxi Driver, The Warriors and others mixed in with a few shots from 2003′s Daredevil. Note: the second reel contains a bit more violence, which Carnahan has labeled as “NC-17.”
Twentieth Century Fox’s plans to attempt a new Daredevil comic book adaptation seems to be existing in a state of quantum flux these days – Some re[ports have it that the studio is working hard on the project, even to the point where they are negotiating with Marvel Studios to extend their rights to the character while others have been reporting that the studio is lukewarm on the film and would probably let the rights expire when the contract runs out in October.
One thing that is certain is that director Joe Carnahan was the most recent in a line of creative types to work on the project for the studio. Carnahan’s announced intent to tell the story of blind lawyer Matt Murdoch who defends the residents of New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen with the aid of radiation-enhanced senses as the superhero Daredevil in the style of a gritty 1970s crime drama like The French Connection certainly sounded promising.
But seems as if that promise might be going unfulfilled, as Carnahan took to his twitter feed last night to deliver some bad news.
Think my idea for a certain retro, red-suited, Serpico-styled superhero went up in smoke today kids.
While he doesn’t elaborate any further, I think we can read the tweet as confirmation that Fox is seriously leaning towards letting the film rights revert back to Marvel.
On the one hand, it is good news for those, like myself, who would like to see the hero interact with the other heroes in Marvel Studios’ shared Cinematic Universe. It’s also bad news for those, like myself, who were interested in seeing the vision Carnahan has for the character. Of course, I don’t think that there would be anything stopping Carnahan from heading over to Marvel to pitch his idea there.
And if Daredevil does revert to Marvel, based on their announced schedule of films, we probably won’t see a film featuring the character until at least late 2015 after Avengers 2. And that’s even if Marvel wants to exploit the character in feature films. There’s always the currently unnamed television project for ABC that Joss Whedon has been mentioned as helping to develop that could be a good fit for the character’s more street-level action.
Fox has until October 10 to get a Daredevil film in front of the cameras if they want to hang on the to the character’s film rights. The clock is ticking…
Among other things, the start of the new year heralds the beginning of the promotional push for the upcoming summer blockbuster movies. This weekend sees the premier of the first trailer for director Joe Carnahan’s big screen adaptation of the ’80s television series. Like the first trailers to most television to film adaptations, this one works to show that at least in some respects the filmmakers are respecting the original material. We’ve got a modified version of the show’s opening narration, the reveals of classic imagery associated with the show, a certain character’s catch phrase and a glimpse of a rather audacious action sequence. My only real complaint is that the trailer only teases us with composer Mike Post’s iconic theme music, leaving me wanting to hear a full-on orchestral version. I guess it’s got me hooked until at least another trailer comes out. Mission accomplished.
A few weeks ago we offered you the first unofficial look at the the cast of the big screen adaptation of the 80s classic tv series The A-Team being directed by Joe Carnahan. Now studio 20th Century Fox has released the first official picture of stars Bradley Cooper, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Sharlto Cople and Liam Neeson as American soldiers-framed-for-a-crime-they-didn’t-commit Lt. Templeton “Faceman” Peck, Sgt. “B.A.” Baracus, Capt. “Howling Mad” Murdock and John “Hannibal” Smith. (Click for a larger view.)
While I like the costumes and the look of the actors in the picture, I’m not sure that I’m thrilled with the gritty look of the photo itself. If you’ve seen Smokin’ Aces, you know that Carnahan is very much a visual stylists. But does The A-Team need that gritty, over-processed look? We’ll see next June 11, 2010.
Twentieth Century Fox’s on-again, off-again big screen adaptation of the 1980s action television series The A-Team looks to be back on, as the Hollywood Reporter states that Joe Carnahan is in talks with the studio to helm the film.
The odds of the film making it to the big screen were starting to look a bit long after director John Singleton quit the project several months back after numerous delays in casting.
The original TV series dealt with four US Army Special Forces soldiers on the run, escaping military police for a crime they didn’t commit. While trying to evade capture, they found time to help various people in distress. Skip Woods’ screenplay for the film updates things slightly, making the quartet Gulf War veterans. Woods’ script has also toned the original series’ campy and cartoonish tone, giving the film a slight techno-thriller edge.
Fox hopes to have the film in theaters for the summer of 2010.
At this point it appears as if Twentieth Century Fox’s plans to take a second attempt at a Daredevil franchise are pretty much dead and the studio is resigned to letting the rights revert back to Marvel in October. The last director that was working on the project was The A-Team helmer Joe Carnahan and he was the one who confirmed that the project was pretty much dead at Fox yesterday.
