Blade: Marvel Studios Pauses Production, Gets Officially Delayed

October 11, 2022

UPDATE: Marvel Studios has now announced that the film has been officially delayed. It will now release on September 6, 2024.

Marvel Studios has put a pause on its vampire hunting as of now, with a report from The Hollywood Reporting noting that production on Blade has been paused as the studio tries to find a new director.

The news comes in the wake of director Bassim Tariq leaving the project last month after continued shifts in the production schedule of the film. With no new director on board and production slated to begin in November, Marvel Studios instead decided to pause production while it finds a new filmmaker and begins developing the film further.

Because production was paused on the film, it’s now unlikely to hit its estimated release date of November 3, 2023. When or if the release date will be shifted is unknown as of now. This isn’t the first we’re hearing of shakeups involving Blade as well, as following Tariq’s exit, reports of new writers coming on to entirely rewrite the film began circulating, suggesting the film is actually a bit more behind than most fans think.

The titular Daywalker will be played by Mahershala Ali, whose voice could be heard in the post-credits scene in Eternals, where he spoke to Kit Harrington’s Dane Whitman.

This is the second time that the iconic character is set to appear in live-action films, as 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.