The vampires are about to arrive in the MCU and the production of Blade seems ready to continue on its way, thanks to the arrival of Bassam Tariq in the control room.
The feature film starring Mahershala Ali could enter production as early as this year, for a release that could coincide with the “free” dates revealed by Marvel for fall 2023.
Marvel hires Bassam Tariq to direct Blade
The focus on the MCU is currently on the plot twists that brought LOKI’s Season 1 finale. With the arrival of an important character and what is presented as the starting point for the whole phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, some films announced by Disney a few months ago have taken a back seat. Among these we find Blade who, little by little, begins to put all the pieces together to start production.
If two years ago it was announced the arrival of Mahershala Ali as the main protagonist and only a few months ago Stacy Osei-Kuffour (Watchmen) had taken the role of screenwriter, today is the news that Bassam Tariq will direct the film on the vampire hunter.
The “Diurno”, as it was called Blade in the 1998 film with Weasley Snipes and in the two sequels, after his 2000s solo journey he is ready to join the MCU superhero group, in the fight against vampires and beyond.
The arrival of Tariq in the feature film crew demonstrates that work on the film is continuing and that, in all likelihood, filming could begin in 2022 for a release of the film in 2023.
The director has only documentaries and a 2020 film, Mogul Mowgli, to his credit, but it is likely that Kevin Feige saw in these works the right potential to entrust the direction of the reboot of Blade to Tariq.
Feige is no stranger to entrusting young talent to direct his films, as he demonstrated with Chloé Zhao (The Eternals), Ryan Coogler (Black Panther), Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok), Destin Cretton (Shang-Chi) e Nia DaCosta (Captain Marvel). The hope is that he has hit the target again, to bring the most fearsome vampire hunter from Marvel back to the big screen.
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