The Hollywood Reporter paints a picture of delays and a particularly troubled production on the new Blade movie. More below…
Hot off his Oscar success for Green Book in 2019, Mahershala Ali hopped on the phone to Marvel’s biggest wig, Kevin Feige, to ask what the studio’s plans were for Blade.
Five years later, it’s starting to look like Feige might not have had any. Director Yann Demange left the film last week, following in the footsteps of his predecessor, Bassam Tariq, who bowed out in September 2022 two months from the start of production. And now, The Hollywood Reporter is, er, reporting that the ongoing shenanigans behind the scenes are starting to get on peoples’ nerves.
Mahershala Ali’s attorney, Shelby Weiser, told THR: “[The] deal was in 2019, and they still haven’t shot it, which is pretty much the craziest thing in my professional experience.”
Another insider alleges members of the cast have missed about three windows to shoot other projects. THR have reported Ali – who seems to have played a key creative role in the production beyond just getting it started – is becoming increasingly frustrated with the mess, which has included changing time periods from the 1920s to the modern day, building (and abandoning) a massive train set, and hiring Mia Goth to play a villain who may or may not feature in the finished film. Goth and Ali are both, at the time of writing, still attached to the project.
Strikes, re-shuffled release schedules and the pandemic all seem to have played their part in the chaotic pre-production – but compared to similarly-timed projects like Deadpool & Wolverine or Captain America: Brave New World, Blade does seem to have been hit particularly hard, with one of THR’s sources claiming it’s proved a casualty of the “too much” era.
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Now, Marvel are reportedly waiting for a script they’re happy with before hiring a replacement for Demange. With six writers all taking a stab at the film so far, it sounds like that’s proving difficult.
Blade is technically scheduled for release on 7th November 2025. More on that release date when it changes…
