The Writers Guild of America strike is still in its first week, but its impact has already been seismic. Late night chat and sketch shows, including SNL, were the first to go dark. Audiences won’t notice any blip in movie releases for a good, long while, but one thing’s for sure: Anyone stoked for Marvel’s long-in-the-works new Blade film with Mahershala Ali will have to wait even longer — if it ever arrives at all.w
As per The Hollywood Reporter, Marvel has shut down pre-production on their attempt to bring their bloodsucking antihero back to the big screen. The film, which was announced back in 2019 and has endured one hiatus after another, almost got there: It was set to start principal photography next month. But with thousands of Hollywood writers now on the picket lines, demanding things like fair pay and regulation over the use of AI technology, that isn’t happening.
That doesn’t mean a new Blade, with or without its two-time Oscar-winning star, will never happen. Marvel plans to restart pre-production when the strike ends, whenever that is. When/if it arrives, it will be the second big screen stab at the character, who was iconically played by Wesley Snipes over three films. Back in 2021, Snipes had shown support for the new film.
This latest iteration even reunited Ali with True Detective creator/writer Nic Pizzolato, who had been recently hired to pen the script. Another new hire was X/Pearl star Mia Goth. Alas, as one insider said, “time simply ran out.”
The WGA strike began last Tuesday after negotiations with the major studios and streamers came to an impasse. Given the long list of demands by the WGA — and the studios/streamers’ intransigence on several key items — it’s been predicted that this won’t end any time soon.
(Via THR)
