A filming start date as well as shooting locations have been revealed for Marvel Studios' Blade.
Based on information revealed by Production Weekly, Marvel Studios' Blade reboot, starring Academy Award-winner Mahershala Ali, will begin filming in at Tyler Perry Studios in October 2022, with locations in Atlanta, GA, New Orleans, LA, Cleveland, OH and Morocco. This news comes after reports that the filming start date for Blade had been pushed back from July to sometime in the fall.
Eric Brooks/Blade first appeared in 1973's The Tomb of Dracula #10 from Marvel Comics and was created by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan. A skilled fighter who possesses the physical abilities of a vampire, Blade is a "daywalker," meaning he is able to walk in the daylight without being killed and uses his skills to hunt and kill vampires. He was portrayed by Wesley Snipes in the 1998 film Blade, and twice more in 2002's Blade II and Blade: Trinity in 2004. The character also appeared in a 2006 television series where he was portrayed by Sticky Fingaz.
Ali will star in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film as the titular Daywalker and will be joined by actor Delroy Lindo (Get Shorty, Da 5 Bloods). Lindo's Blade role, which is being kept tightly under wraps, was announced in November 2021. It was the first casting news for the upcoming Marvel film since Ali was revealed as the iconic vampire hunter at Comic-Con in San Diego in 2019.
Blade was introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2021's Eternals, with the film's second post-credit scene only featuring the voice of Ali as the character. While Blade debuted in Marvel Comics in 1973, Ali has explained that he was introduced to the character through Snipes' performance in the original Blade trilogy. "Well, only what I discovered, like everyone else in the late '90s with Wesley Snipes, you know," the two-time Oscar winner said regarding his knowledge of the Marvel character. "And ... I don't think I even noticed how, at least at that time, how I was just accustomed to there not being black superheroes."
While little is known about Blade's plot, director Bassam Tariq said that there is an exciting lack of an established canon for the vampire-human hybrid compared to other mainstream superheroes. "What's exciting about the film that we're making is [there] hasn't been a canon for Blade, as we're reading through the comics and everything," Tariq said. "Him being a daywalker is the one thing that's been established, and you know we can't deny what Wesley Snipes did, which was he basically got this whole ball rolling."
Directed by Tariq from a script by Stacy Osei-Kuffour, Marvel Studios' Blade does not currently have an official release date.
Source: Production Weekly