More Daredevil and Ghost Rider in the Works - The UpStream

Marvel is everywhere these days. Every time we turn around we seem to be talking about another Marvel movie. Iron Man 2 is coming soon, along with several other films in preparation for the Avengers film. Well, here are two unrelated films no one expected to see.

Daredevil, who had a hard go of things in his 2003 film attempt, will be getting a reboot, care of New Regency and Fox. A reboot for this franchise is not a bad idea, as the storyline of Daredevil itself is really interesting and could lend itself to a great motion picture, just not the one they released last time.

Ghost Rider, on the other hand, will be getting a sequel, despite terribly low ratings and a generally unappealing first film, care of Crystal Sky and Columbia Pictures. Nicholas Cage will return and try and salvage the role of Johnny Blaze in a direct storyline continuation to the first film.

These films come as a partial surprise because of how unimpressive both films were the last time around. On the other hand, franchise deals are running out, and these studios do not want to have their rights return to Marvel, like Iron Man did, allowing Marvel to make a killing off of the product. And now with Marvel being owned by Disney, there is an even larger concern. Former Marvel head, Avi Arad, said:

I had this poster of the Marvel universe, with these beautifully drawn characters, and we used to say you could throw a dart, hit a character and make a hit movie under the Marvel brand. There is a long list yet to be unleashed. I think this will look like a smart deal over time because Disney is a company that knows how to exploit a brand.

How true is that? No one knows how to milk a franchise like Disney, except for maybe George Lucas. Hopefully these films will go like the Hulk reboot did, and revitalize a damaged franchise. My fear, however, is that the actual result will be ruining both franchises to the point where they will not be able to be salvaged for decades.