Highlights
- Blade reboot faces repeated production setbacks, with multiple directors and writers exiting the project.
- Marvel Studios reevaluating approach to output, focusing on quality over rushing into production for release dates.
- Despite ongoing delays and issues, Blade still set to hit theaters in 2025, raising concerns about project’s future viability.
Marvel Studios has had a difficult time trying to bring its Blade reboot to the big screen. First announced in 2019, Marvel Studios’ Blade reboot is set to star Mahershala Ali. It has nearly entered production two to three times already, and has lost two directors thus far. Yet the troubled project is far from being canned – at least for now.
Earlier this month, it was revealed that the movie’s second director, Yann Demange, had exited the project. Reasons for his departure are not entirely clear. However, it was said Demange actually left the project long before the report surfaced. With all the film’s behind-the-scenes drama, perhaps it’s time Marvel Studios decided to kill its Blade reboot once and for all.
Blade’s Bumpy Production Woes
Marvel Studios surprised everyone when it announced a Blade movie was in the works with Ali set to star in the film. The news came at the end of Marvel’s Hall H presentation in July 2019, with the star making his way to the stage with a Blade hat in tow. At the time, there was no screenwriter or director attached to the project, but it was expected to hit theaters in 2023. Then COVID-19 hit, which delayed the project and the rest of Hollywood, for a good amount of time. Then came the strikes after Hollywood had just begun to bounce back from the pandemic. At the time, director Bassam Tariq was attached to the project, but eventually left in September 2022 after the production was pushed back. He was later replaced by Demange, who seemed excited about getting the project off of the ground, teasing a potential R-rating for the movie. Unfortunately, Demange would exit the project this year for unknown reasons.
Along with losing two directors, the project is said to have had at least six writers attached to the project at some point or another. Stacy Osei-Kuffour was the first writer revealed to join the project back in 2021. At the time, she was expected to be the sole writer on the film. Michael Starrbury, Nic Pizzolatto, Michael Green, and X-Men ’97’s Beau DeMayo have been said to have worked on the script at various points in time. The latest reports have suggested Marvel Studios has brought in its right-hand-man, Eric Pearson, to tweak the script once again. Pearson has become known as the “finishing” man for the studio, having worked on Black Widow and Thor: Ragnarok. It’s unclear how far in the process Pearson is, or if another writer will take yet another pass at the script, but the film seems far from entering production at this point. So, is it time Marvel finally admitted defeat with Blade?
Is Blade Worth Saving, or Should it Just be Killed Off?
In the past, Marvel Studios hasn’t exactly been known to take its time to ensure quality over quantity. With films like Thor: The Dark World and Iron Man 2, Marvel has shown it is not immune to delivering subpar projects. However, after having suffered multiple stumbles with both its Disney+ projects, and numerous box office troubles, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige – and Disney’s Bob Iger – have been re-evaluating the studios’ output to ensure it is putting out the best work it can. We’ve seen this with the upcoming The Fantastic Four movie, which took its time assembling its star-studded cast, only after both the studio and the director were happy with the script. Now, it looks like the studio is keeping the same thought process moving forward, with projects like Armor Wars and even X-Men taking the time to simmer, rather than rushing into production for the sake of meeting a release date. With that in mind, it begs the question, should Marvel Studios opt to give Blade time to course correct, or should the studio simply kill off the project?
With it having been nearly five years since the project was announced, it’s baffling that Blade has yet to make it past the script stage. Especially given the numerous false-starts for the film. While Ali is an excellent actor, and it would be fascinating to see him take on the Daywalker, it’s hard to imagine the excitement is still there after so many years. Even former Blade actor, Wesley Snipes, has joked about the project’s inability to make it to production. There are so many issues working against the film, including rumors of a Midnight Suns project expected to begin production after Blade. If Ali isn’t happy with the script for Blade, does it even make sense for Marvel to jump ahead to planning out a Midnight Suns film that Ali is sure to star in? An actor of his caliber is going to want to put out a quality project, which is understandable, but with Marvel Studios’ plans for its Marvel Cinematic Universe, one has to wonder if the constant delays are bound to mess with the plans for Phase 5 and Phase 6 of the MCU.
As of right now, Blade is still expected to hit theaters on November 7th, 2025.
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