We’re closing in on four years since Mahershala Ali was trotted out onstage at San Diego Comic-Con for the surprise announcement that a Blade reboot was in the works at Marvel Studios, which is about the only positive news to have emerged from the project ever since.
The process to find a writer was a lengthy one, with Watchmen veteran Stacy Osei-Kuffour recruited after an extensive search, while Bassam Tariq was tasked to step behind the camera and bring the Daywalker back to the fore of Kevin Feige’s cinematic universe. Since then, it’s been one mishap after the other.
Tariq dropped out a year later citing “creative differences” to be replaced by Yann Demange, with Michael Starrbury rewriting the initial screenplay. Along the way, there’s been several delays and plenty of tales touting behind the scenes woe, but True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto being revealed as the latest scribe to take a shot at Blade mere weeks before shooting is scheduled to begin has set even more alarm bells ringing.
The cast is at least solid, with two-time Academy Award winner Ali being joined by the always-reliable Delroy Lindo and scream queen Mia Goth, but Blade still has a long way to go in order to convince the masses that it isn’t cursed. The film remains scheduled for a September 2024 release, but nobody would be surprised if it fails to make that target.
There’s no harm in remaining positive, though, even if Blade could really do with some positive buzz for the first time in forever.