Marvel Studios has been taking its sweet time getting its Blade film project off the ground. They’ve been working on this thing for years and it’s been frustrating for the people involved and the fans.
One thing we know about the film for sure, other than Mahershala Ali is attached to star in it, is that it will be rated R. Marvel President Kevin Feige recently talked about the rating with BlackTree TV, saying:
“For the last few years, as we’ve been trying to crack that movie, the most important thing for us is not rushing it. And making sure we are making the right Blade movie.
“There were some great Blade movies years ago… they were all rated R. So I think that’s inherent–like Deadpool–inherent with the character of Blade.”
As for why the film has been taking so long to develop, Feige likened the delays to Deadpool & Wolverine, saying that they are just waiting for the “magic thing to fall into place.” He told CinemaBlend:
“It’s part of the process. And when you have a character as famous as Blade, and an actor as famous as Mahershala, everything that happens just gets a lot of attention.
“I’m sure you’ve heard us talk about, we were struggling finding the perfect reason for Deadpool to exist, for the third Deadpool movie in the MCU, and then Hugh Jackman called, and it fell into place.
“Sometimes you need that magic thing that falls into place. And sometimes it happens – sometimes it takes a day. Sometimes it takes two years. Sometimes it takes 10 years. But that’s what you really should be waiting for, until you make something.”
It was previously reported that Yann Demange has stepped away from directing the movie. Eric Pearson is writing the latest draft of the script after Stacy Osei-Kuffour, Beau DeMayo, Michael Starrbury, Nic Pizzolatto, and Michael Green all took a crack at the screenplay.
Marvel believes “getting Blade right is much more important than getting the film out,” and that “the pressure to produce as much content as possible has been lifted,” and the studio now has “some breathing room.”
It was also previously reported that Marvel is looking to go with “a darker tone on this film than other MCU projects have been in the past.”
I’m sure everything will eventually come together for this movie, but without a director currently attached, it’s not going to happen anytime soon. I think we’ll be waiting a few more years before we eventually see Blade hit theaters.