Blade was groundbreaking. It was the first film to usher in the superhero genre to the modern era of film. The first film in the franchise hit theaters in 1998 and remains an underground hit to this day. The work Stephen Norrington did with the first film was great. The sequel, led by Guillermo del Toro, had even greater success than the original.
The third film, Blade Trinity, helmed by David S. Goyer isn’t as well received, but still finished out the storyline in enough ways to satisfy fans. Marvel won the rights back for Blade but has yet to do anything with the project. For a few years, Wesley Snipes has shown his interest in working with Marvel to reprise the character on the big screen.
Snipes seems so confident that he will be back for a fourth film. In a recent interview with VICE, Snipes says:
“There are a lot of conversations going around right now and we’re very blessed to have the enthusiasm and interest in something coming from that world. We’ve created two projects that fit perfectly into this world and, when people see them, I think they’re only going to have a problem with deciding which one they love the most.”
He also hinted that he has already spoken with Marvel execs:
“All the main execs [at Marvel] and my team, we’ve been discussing for the past two years. Everyone’s enthusiastic about it, everybody gets it. But they got a business to run and they gotta square the things that they gotta figure out before they can get to it, I guess.
In the meantime, we got a business to run and our own slate of things to do so. But the next time you see something in [Blade], mark my words: What we did before is child’s play compared to what we can do now.”
Blade would find a hard time fitting into the current MCU and might be too dark for the Disney model. The franchise could find life on Netflix, where Marvel shows its darker side more often than not. With the previous films in the franchise nabbing in the $150 million range for each film, the franchise could turn a big payback for Marvel.
