Marvel Studios has temporarily shut down production on Mahershala Ali’s “Blade” movie, according to an individual with knowledge of the production.
The production is delayed as the search for a new director continues and development on the script is ongoing.
Crew members on the ground were notified Tuesday. The studio’s hope is to restart the production in early 2023.
On Tuesday, Disney also pushed the release date for “Blade” from Nov. 23, 2023, to Sept. 6, 2024. The shift was among a wide slate of adjustments to the studio’s release schedule.
Playwright Stacy Osei-Kuffour wrote the script for “Blade,” which reboots the character for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Two-time Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali will star, taking over from Wesley Snipes, who portrayed the half-human vampire hunter in the original “Blade” trilogy, which kicked off in 1998 with “Blade,” followed by “Blade II” in 2002 and “Blade: Trinity” in 2004.
Those films departed from the comics by making Blade half-vampire (he’s just a normal human who happens to be immune to vampirism in the comics), a depiction that has stuck with popular culture and is assumed will be kept for the reboot.
Made for a relatively modest $45 million, “Blade” was a surprise hit, bringing in $131 million. The sequel directed by Guillermo del Toro was even more successful, making $155 million off a $54 million budget. Together, the films are credited with helping to revive superhero films in the wake of 1997’s “Batman and Robin,” proving that the earlier movie’s poor reception didn’t mean the genre was dead. Arguably they paved the way for the “Dark Knight” trilogy and eventually the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist Gene Colan, Blade first appeared as a supporting character in 1973 and starred in his own title shortly thereafter.
The Hollywood Reporter first reported the news.