Marvel's BLADE Is Reportedly on Track to Shoot Next Year
Last week Marvel’s long-awaited Blade movie was removed from Disney’s release schedule. This left fans wondering what the status of the movie is, especially since the studio still hasn’t announced a new director for it yet.
Hollywood scooper Daniel Richtman recently shared that the movie is still on track to start production in the UK at some point in 2025. He also added that it will be "dark and R-rated," and have a "smaller budget than other recent Marvel films."
The report also claims that a new script for the film is currently being worked on.
The latest draft of the script was by Eric Pearson, who is the sixth writer to have been brought in to work on the project. Previous writers include Michael Green, Stacy Osei-Kuffour, Michael Starrbury, Beau DeMayo and Nic Pizzolatto.
As far as a new director goes, Marvel has been meeting with several potential talents, and Jeymes Samuel is said to have "impressed the Marvel brass." Samuel previously helmed the Netflix western The Harder They Fall, and the recent revisionist religious epic The Book of Clarence.
Mahershala Ali is still attached to the film and Marvel President Kevin Feige recently talked about the rating, saying:
“For the last few years, as we’ve been trying to crack that movie, the most important thing for us is not rushing it. And making sure we are making the right Blade movie.
“There were some great Blade movies years ago… they were all rated R. So I think that’s inherent–like Deadpool–inherent with the character of Blade.”
As for why the film has been taking so long to develop, Feige likened the delays to Deadpool & Wolverine, saying that they are just waiting for the “magic thing to fall into place.”
He said: “It's part of the process. And when you have a character as famous as Blade, and an actor as famous as Mahershala, everything that happens just gets a lot of attention.
“I'm sure you've heard us talk about, we were struggling finding the perfect reason for Deadpool to exist, for the third Deadpool movie in the MCU, and then Hugh Jackman called, and it fell into place.
“Sometimes you need that magic thing that falls into place. And sometimes it happens – sometimes it takes a day. Sometimes it takes two years. Sometimes it takes 10 years. But that's what you really should be waiting for, until you make something.”
Ali's last update on the project was: “We’re working on it. That’s the best I could tell you. I’m really encouraged with the direction of the project. I think we’ll be back at it relatively soon.”
“I’m sincerely encouraged in terms of where things are at and who’s on board and who’s leading the way as far as the writing of the script and the directing and all that. So that’s the extent of what I can tell you.”
This is a project that Marvel is not giving up on, it’s just a project that they are trying to figure out and get right.