Just over three years after Marvel Studios first announced a Mahershala Ali-led “Blade” film at Comic-Con 2019, production had been gearing up for the project to shoot in Atlanta in the next few weeks.
That’s all come to a halt with the stepping down of the film’s director Bassam Tariq. Tariq’s abrupt exit has understandably led to questions concerning the production, but one immediate (and expected) impact is the film’s shoot being delayed.
When it will resume is the big question. Cleveland.com is reporting that the project was set to film a nine-day stint in Cleveland from November 14th-22nd. However casting calls looking for extras by AngelaBoehmCasting for that part of the shoot have reportedly been removed.
A separate posting from Reddit claiming to be a notice from the same casting agency indicates that production dates for that portion of the shoot have been “pushed to the spring” with specific dates to-be-determined.
Others including My Cosmic Circus and bigscreenleaks have been citing a January start date or “at least the start of 2023”.
“Moon Knight” scribe Beau DeMayo was recently hired to work on the film’s script, with a report the other day at The Direct suggesting it’s not just a mere polish but essentially a full rewrite.
With all this talk, the obvious question is if the film can maintain its planned November 3rd 2023 release date. A lot would seemingly depend upon how fast Marvel manages to secure a new director with that search currently underway.
“Blade” is the only film Marvel has set between “The Marvels” in July 2023 and “Captain America: New World Order” in May 2024 so the film does have some wiggle room and could take an early February 2024 slot should there be a delay.
