Wesley Snipes opened up about the unexpected legacy of the Blade trilogy.
In an interview with Comic Book Movie to discuss his graphic novel writing debut with The Exiled, Snipes was asked about what the legacy of Blade meant to him. "It’s amazing," he answered. "In the beginning, my motivation for doing the first Blade project was to have fun and to do something I knew my homeboys and homegirls would absolutely love. The ones from the martial arts world. The ones from the Shaft world, and the ones who love Kung-fu and all that [Laughs]. We knew that would be attractive to that niche audience, but I had no idea it would have broader appeal."
"However, it was a good lesson," Snipes continued. "It taught us what was possible. A lot of things we didn’t imagine because we didn’t have the technical tools at the time, but we have them now. It’s a great time for us and I’m giddy over the possibility of the potential of doing some of the things we had imagined with the tools we now have available with this particular project."
Directed by Stephen Norrington, the first Blade movie was released in 1998 and starred Snipes as the titular Daywalker, a human-vampire hybrid with supernatural abilities who hunted bloodsuckers with an arsenal of high-tech gadgets. The film was an unexpected hit with audiences and was followed by two sequels: Guillermo Del Toro's Blade II in 2002 and David S. Goyer's Blade: Trinity in 2004. The success of the Blade trilogy is credited with helping establish Marvel Comics as a known quantity in blockbuster films and helped pave the way for the box office dominance of franchises like Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, the X-Men franchise and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Currently, the MCU is developing their own Blade movie with Mahershahla Ali in the lead role and Bassam Tariq directing. Snipes has shown support for Ali's casting and has spoken to him about the film. "The issue of him being cast wasn't between us," he said. "That was business. I'm cool with it. I don't walk around as Blade, so I'm not attached to the character like that. I feel no emotional loss. Zero. I'm happy that he's been recast and more than likely will do a great job." Ali himself has said Snipes still owns the role and he "looks forward to earning it" in his own film.
The Blade trilogy is available to stream on HBO Max. Marvel Studios' Blade doesn't yet have a release date.
Source: Comic Book Movie