Tuesday saw the surprising news that Blade had lost director Bassam Tariq with less than two months to go until filming was supposed to start in Atlanta.
Marvel released a statement offering “shifts in our production schedule” are to blame, but an insider is offering a completely different story.
According to Jeff Sneider who has written for the trades and dropped scoops before (Sneider thinks Ryan Gosling could be Doctor Doom), it sounds like Blade and Marvel are in big trouble.
Sneider actually first tweeted the news about Blade losing its director prior to THR “exclusively” announcing the news and offers more details.
According to Sneider, star and multi-Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali is “very frustrated with the process.”
It’s also said the script is only 90 pages, which means the film, presently, is only 90 minutes long, as with screenwriting, a written page typically is the equivalent of one minute of footage.
Kevin Feige spread too thin with Blade and Marvel
Blade is also said to feature only two “lackluster” action scenes, which is mind-blowing to think of compared to the original films and shows possibly how incompetent Feige’s Marvel team is when it comes to comic book adaptations and supports the idea that Feige’s present MCU team is unknowledgeable when it comes to the source material and doesn’t care anything about the comics.
It’s also claimed that the head of Marvel, Kevin Feige, is “spread too thin,” which doesn’t come as a surprise as Phase 4 has been a huge bust, which includes Marvel failing to deliver for Disney Plus.
Sneider also says Beau DeMayo, who is known for writing The Witcher and Moon Knight, is coming on board to fix the script.
Update: Additional problems and plot details made known.
I’m told that the current BLADE script is roughly 90 pages and features exactly TWO (lackluster) action sequences. Mahershala said to be very frustrated with the process. Feige said to be spread too thin. But hey, that’s just what sources are telling me. Don’t shoot the messenger
— Jeff Sneider (@TheInSneider) September 28, 2022
With less than two months to go until filming and with Blade losing its director, the status of the film is unclear as either Marvel has to announce a new director right away in order to start filming in November or push production back or possibly even the release date.
As things stand, Blade has a November 3, 2023 release date.
It’s tough to be a Marvel fan right now.
