“Blade” fans have their fangs out. They are furious after Marvel studio announced that it’ll be a while — almost another year — before moviegoers lay eyes on the highly anticipated vampire adventure thriller reboot starring Academy Award-winner Mahershala Ali. The new development comes nearly two weeks after the project lost its director, Bassam Tariq.
According to an unidentified source who spoke to The Hollywood Reporter, crew members of the forthcoming films were notified of the latest, one of many changes, on Tuesday, Oct. 11. Studio executives appear to be combing through their options and taking other opportunities for improvement, including several script rewrites.
Beau DeMayo, best known for his work on shows such as “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” “The Witcher,” its animated feature spinoff and Marvel’s “Moon Knight,” is the current writer. “They want to really get it right,” the source told the publication.
While some fans appreciated the careful approach taken by the studio, including one Twitter fan who wrote, “I’m ok with this,” before adding, “Take the time to get it right,” others did not appear so patient.
“They announced Mahershala Ali as Blade at Comic-con 2019. That’s three years ago,” called out one person. “You mean to tell me that in all that time, they didn’t have the script completely ironed out? WTH is going on at Marvel? This should have been squared away years ago.”
Another fan pointed to “Black Panther” director Ryan Coogler as being “right there.”
“Won’t be surprised if Mahershala Ali decides to quit the project as well,” wrote a third person.
Wesley Snipes played the character in the Marvel film from 1998 to 2004 in “Blade,” “Blade II” and “Blade: Trinity.” Fans were initially hurt over the replacement, but the “White Men Can’t Jump” actor quickly calmed nerves.
“Honor and respect to the grandmaster Stan,” he said in a statement to ComicBook.com. “Congratulations and Salaam to Mahershala Ali, a beautiful and talented artist whose expressions I look forward to experiencing for many years to come. Inshallah, we will someday work together.”
“Blade,” which was slated to be released on Nov. 3, 2023, now reportedly will release on Sept. 6, 2024.
