6) Hand The Rights Back To Marvel Studios
With the clock ticking a few years ago, Fox decided to hand the rights to Daredevil back to Marvel Studios rather than put Joe Carnahan’s 1970s set take on the Man Without Fear into production. On the one hand, it seems crazy that the studio would give up a property which had the potential to make them money, but they clearly felt that wasn’t the case.
After taking a huge $100+ million loss on Fantastic Four and the clear lack of interest which surrounds a franchise which didn’t have all that much before the reboot bombed, Fox no doubt now feels the same way about Marvel’s First Family. While Simon Kinberg claims that he’s actively looking for a way to get a sequel going with the same cast, it’s ultimately not his decision.
Fox needs Marvel’s permission to move ahead with an X-Men related TV series they have in the works, so it would be smart for the House of Ideas to use that as leverage in getting the rights back to the Fantastic Four. That doesn’t mean that Marvel would immediately crack on with giving the team another movie, though. If anything, Kevin Feige and company would likely just be happy to have Galactus and the Silver Surfer back in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
