It's appropriate that news like this would bust out just as Comic-Con is kicking into high gear, even though it follows two properties that haven't had a presence here in years. As we all know, 20th Century Fox holds a number of significant Marvel superhero properties. The most prominent of these are the X-men, and the two we're getting updates on now, Fantastic Four and Daredevil.
First, Fox has been keen on rebooting Fantastic Four, even though the first two movies performed well at the box office. Nobody really liked them, however, and the studio recently had their sights set on Josh Trank(Chronicle) to take Marvel's "First Family" in a new direction. Well, Deadline reports that he is now confirmed to direct the film, probably making it his next project. He's also attached to helm a Venom spinoff, and an adaptation of the Shadow of the Colossus video game.
As for Daredevil, Fox has been under the gun to try and get a reboot made on the blind lawyer/superhero's adventures, hiring David Slade(30 Days of Night) to direct. With a script already in place, Fox just hit a major stumbling block as Slade has now dropped out, citing upcoming commitments. The thing about these licensed properties is that they revert back to Marvel if nothing is done with them, which is why you see sequels to movies that probably didn't do so well in the first place. Fox apparently has until the fall to get Daredevil into production before they revert back to Marvel, and you know they won't hesitate to make him a part of their larger Avengers universe.
So these are two movies to keep an eye on for very different reasons. Trank is an excellent director with a lot of promise, and if things go as expected we'll see Fantastic Four in 2014. As for Daredevil, expect a mad dash to find a director in the next few days.
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