Marvel Studios is reportedly delaying the start of production on Blade due to the ongoing writers strike, according to Deadline.
- It was just last week that Marvel hired Nic Pizzolatto to write the script for the long-awaited vampire film.
- Now, Pizzolatto is unable to work on the script due to the strike and Marvel has decided to delay production until the script is ready.
- Marvel has not commented on this delay.
- This is not the first delay to production on Blade. Late last year, the film was pushed from a November, 2023 release to its current September, 2024 release just a couple of weeks after director Bassam Tariq exited the project.
- That resulted in the delay of several other Marvel projects, namely Deadpool 3, Fantastic Four and Avengers: Secret Wars.
- This time though, Deadline reports that Marvel plans to continue with production on some of their other upcoming projects, including Thunderbolts and that same Deadpool 3.
- The studio is also currently shooting Captain America: New World Order.
More on Blade:
- Marvel announced the upcoming Blade film back in 2019 during San Diego Comic Con.
- Blade follows Marvel’s vampire hunter with a tendency for violence and no tolerance for those who stalk the night.
- The film will star Mahershala Ali, who won an Oscar for his performance in the film Green Book and appeared in the Marvel Netflix series Luke Cage.
- The cast also includes Mia Goth and Delroy Lindo.
- Yann Demange is set to direct the film.
- Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige is producing.
- Created as a supporting character by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan, Blade first appeared in “Tomb of Dracula #10″ in 1973, becoming a cult favorite. He is a human-vampire hybrid thanks to his mother being bitten and killed by a blood-sucker during childbirth.
- On top of comic aficionados, Blade has built up a generation of fans who grew up watching the Blade trilogy that starred Wesley Snipes from 1998-2004.
- Marvel’s Blade is currently set to come to theaters on September 6, 2024.