It has only been three months since we last heard an update about Marvel Studios’ upcoming Blade movie, and now new major details have been revealed for the Mahershala Ali-led MCU film. According to The Hollywood Reporter, production on the highly-anticipated project was originally scheduled to start this September but has now been pushed back to July 2022. The filming delay is because the studio isn’t rushing with Blade and would like to spend more time working on the project’s script with scribe Stacy Osei-Kuffour (Watchmen).
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The Blade movie was first announced by Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con, with Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali making a surprise appearance at the panel. Ali, who previously starred in Netflix’s Luke Cage, confirmed that he was the one who first approached the studio about wanting to take on the titular heroic vampire. The daywalker was first famously portrayed by Wesley Snipes, who has already voiced out his support to Ali following the announcement.
Earlier this year, it has been revealed that Stacy Osei-Kuffour has been tapped to pen the screenplay after six months of meeting with various writers, making her the first Black female writer to pen a Marvel movie. It’s still unclear which phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will the upcoming film be debuting in because it currently has no release date attached to it yet.
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The Blade Trilogy from New Line Cinema helped shepherd comic books and superheroes to the big screen. Combined, the three films brought in over $400 million at the global box office. Blade was created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist Gene Colan as a supporting character in the comic book “The Tomb of Dracula” #10 in July 1973.
