Marvel’s Blade is off to a rocky start; first, it lost its original creative team, and now the writer’s strike has put another halt on production.
The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that Marvel is shutting down preproduction on the project, which was just set to begin production in the next month. THR notes the cast and crewmembers of Blade were notified the afternoon of the shutdown.
Marvel recently hired True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto to touch up the rumored troubled script for the vampire action film, but THR claims the studio’s “time simply ran out” to get the project penned before the strike. The studio will reportedly restart production once the strike is over.
As many outlets have tried to spin this to a negative towards the writer’s strike, it also points out the ongoing restructuring Marvel began after Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania flopped. But even with this one project shutting down, Disney is entering a busy period for Marvel movies. THR notes Captain America: New World Order is filming in Atlanta, while Disney+ series Agatha: Coven of Chaos and Wonder Man are also shooting.
A busy time, but given how long the writer’s strike goes on, Marvel wades into uncharted waters. The studio is infamous for having a writer on set to rework things on the fly. Many showrunners are also striking, removing a security blanket often used by the productions.
Yann Demange (White Boy Rick) will direct Blade, which stars Mahershala Ali, Delroy Lindo, Aaron Pierre, and Mia Goth. The film was set for release on September 6, 2024, but there are no reports on whether it will make that date.
