According to IGN FilmForce the live-action feature film version of Marvel Comics’ Black Widow has been dropped by Lionsgate. The studio was said to have let the project go due to the less than stellar box office results from other recent female-driven action films. I’m not buying that excuse however, because even though Ultraviolet and Aeon Flux may not have done as well as expected, other such films as the Laura Croft adventures, Underworld films and the Resident Evil franchise have done exceptionally well.

The film’s writer-director, David Hayter, who confirmed the bad news, told IGN that after Lionsgate dropped Black Widow, “Marvel and I then spoke to a few other financing entities, but I never felt comfortable that we had found a place that was willing to take the movie, and the character, seriously.”

He continued, “I have put it aside until a reputable studio comes along, but in the meantime, I am heartbroken. I love this character, I love the story/world we came up with for her, and I sincerely hope the movie gets done some day. In the meantime, I am creating an original feature to shoot next year.”

Black Widow was to be a contemporary and realistic espionage adventure that would have taken the Black Widow into Kazakhstan, to the Red Room and beyond.