| Blade | |
| Distributor: | New Line Cinema |
| Released: | 1998–2006 |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Budget: | $164 million[1] |
| Gross: | $417 million |
Blade is a superhero film and television franchise based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, starring Wesley Snipes as Blade in the original trilogy, and Sticky Fingaz in the television series. The original trilogy was directed by Stephen Norrington, Guillermo del Toro and David S. Goyer, the latter of whom also wrote the films and served as a co-writer for the first and last two episodes of the television series. The original films and television series were distributed by New Line Cinema from 1998 to 2006.
The character was created in 1973 for Marvel Comics by writer Marv Wolfman and artist Gene Colan as a supporting character in the 1970s comic The Tomb of Dracula. In the comic, Blade's mother was bitten by a vampire while she was in labor with Blade, rendering him immune to being turned into a vampire; following the release of the 1998 film Blade, the character was retroactively made into a dhampir and redesigned to match his movie counterpart. A reboot within the continuity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) with Mahershala Ali in the title role is in development.[2] Snipes made a cameo as the character in the 2024 film Deadpool & Wolverine.
| Film | U.S. release date | Director(s) | Screenwriter(s)< | --Do not change the way writers are credit. This is following the Writers Guild of America credit system.--> | Producer(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blade | August 21, 1998 | Stephen Norrington | David S. Goyer | Peter Frankfurt, Wesley Snipes, and Robert Engelman | |||
| Blade II | March 22, 2002 | Guillermo del Toro | Peter Frankfurt, Wesley Snipes, and Patrick Palmer | ||||
| December 8, 2004 | David S. Goyer | Peter Frankfurt, Wesley Snipes, David S. Goyer, and Lynn Harris | |||||
See main article: Blade (1998 film). Blade grows up to become a vampire hunter, swearing vengeance on the creatures that killed his mother. He teams up with a man called Whistler, a retired vampire hunter and weapons expert.
Meanwhile, in the urban underworld, a feud is started between "pure-blood" vampires and those who had been human, but were "turned". Blade becomes aware of this and investigates further, uncovering a plot to raise the blood god La Magra, something he must stop at all costs.
See main article: Blade II. A rare mutation has occurred within the vampire community. "Reapers" are vampires so consumed with an insatiable bloodlust that they prey on vampires as well as humans, transforming victims who are unlucky enough to survive into Reapers themselves. Now their quickly expanding population threatens the existence of vampires, and soon there won't be enough humans in the world to satisfy their bloodlust. Blade, Whistler and an armory expert named Scud are curiously summoned by the Shadow Council. The council reluctantly admits that they are in a dire situation and they require Blade's assistance. Blade then tenuously enters into an alliance with The Bloodpack, an elite team of vampires who were trained in all modes of combat to defeat Blade. They'll use their skills instead to help wipe out the Reaper threat. Blade's team and the Bloodpack are the only line of defense which can prevent the Reaper population from wiping out the vampire and human populations.
See main article: Blade: Trinity. In the final installment of the series, the vampires succeed in framing Blade for the killing of a human (who was in fact a familiar being used as bait). Blade, now in the public's eye and wanted by the FBI, is forced to join forces with the Nightstalkers, a human clan of vampire hunters. Blade, Hannibal King, and Abigail Whistler go after Danica Talos, who has succeeded in locating and resurrecting Drake, also known as Dracula, the first vampire and by far the most powerful. In order to stop him, Blade has to release a virus that will wipe out all vampires, but being a dhampir, he must face the possibility of also dying as a result.
In October 2008, Blade director Stephen Norrington was confirmed to be developing a prequel trilogy to Blade, featuring Stephen Dorff reprising his role as Deacon Frost.[3] [4] However, by August 2012, the film rights to Blade had reverted to Marvel Studios.[5]
In October 2016, star of the Underworld film series Kate Beckinsale stated that a crossover film between the franchises had been discussed as a sequel to Blade: Trinity with Snipes returning, but was declined because Marvel Studios had plans to introduce the character into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.[6]
See main article: Blade: The Series. In 2006, Spike TV aired a thirteen-episode series set after the events of Blade: Trinity, with Sticky Fingaz portraying Blade, replacing Snipes. Goyer (who wrote the scripts for all three of the films and directed the third film) also created the series.
| Character | Films | Television series | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blade | Blade II | Blade: Trinity | Blade: The Series | ||
| 1998 | 2002 | 2004 | 2006 | ||
| Blade | Wesley Snipes | Wesley Snipes | Wesley Snipes | Sticky Fingaz | |
| Abraham Whistler | Kris Kristofferson | Adrian Glynn McMorran | |||
| Deacon Frost | Stephen Dorff | ||||
| Dr. Karen Jenson | N'Bushe Wright | ||||
| Quinn | Donal Logue | ||||
| 'Mercury' | Arly Jover | ||||
| Vanessa Brooks | Sanaa Lathan | ||||
| Racquel | Traci Lords | ||||
| Gitano Dragonetti | Udo Kier | ||||
| Eli Damaskinos | Thomas Kretschmann | ||||
| Jared Nomak | Luke Goss | ||||
| 'Priest' | Tony Curran | ||||
| Nyssa Damaskinos | Leonor Varela | ||||
| Dieter Reinhardt | Ron Perlman | ||||
| Asad | Danny John-Jules | ||||
| 'Snowman' | Donnie Yen | ||||
| 'Chupa' | Matt Schulze | ||||
| 'Scud' | Norman Reedus | ||||
| Dracula / Drake | Dominic Purcell | ||||
| Abigail Whistler | Jessica Biel | ||||
| Hannibal King | Ryan Reynolds | ||||
| Danica Talos | Parker Posey | ||||
| Dr. Edgar Vance | John Michael Higgins | ||||
| Jarko Grimwood | Triple H | ||||
| Asher Talos | Callum Keith Rennie | ||||
| Krista Starr | Jill Wagner | ||||
| Shen | Nelson Lee | ||||
| Marcus Van Sciver | Neil Jackson | ||||
| 'Chase' | Jessica Gower | ||||
| FBI Agent Ray Collins | Larry Poindexter | ||||
| Film | Director | Producer | Writer | Composer | Cinematographer | Editor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blade | Stephen Norrington | Peter Frankfurt Wesley Snipes Robert Engelman Andrew J. Horne | David S. Goyer | Mark Isham | Theo van de Sande | Paul Rubell |
| Blade II | Guillermo del Toro | Peter Frankfurt Wesley Snipes Patrick Palmer | Marco Beltrami | Gabriel Beristain | Peter Amundson | |
| Blade: Trinity | David S. Goyer | Peter Frankfurt Wesley Snipes David S. Goyer Lynn Harris | Ramin Djawadi The RZA | Conrad Smart Howard E. Smith |
| Film | Release date | Box office gross | All time ranking | Budget | Reference | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North America | Other territories | Worldwide | North America | |||||
| Blade | August 21, 1998 | $70,087,718 | $61,095,812 | $131,211,411 |
| $45 million | [7] [8] | |
| Blade II | March 22, 2002 | $82,348,319 | $72,661,713 | $155,010,032 |
| $54 million | [9] | |
| December 8, 2004 | $52,411,906 | $76,493,460 | $131,977,904 |
| $65 million | [10] | ||
| Total | $204,847,943 | $210,250,985 | $418,199,347 | $164 million | ||||
| Critical | Public | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | CinemaScore | ||
| Blade | [11] | 47 (25 reviews)[12] | [13] | |
| Blade II | [14] | 52 (28 reviews)[15] | ||
| Blade: Trinity | [16] | 38 (30 reviews)[17] | ||
| Blade: The Series | 50% (18 reviews)[18] | 49 (15 reviews)[19] |
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Certifications (sales thresholds) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. | U.S. R&B | ||||
| 1998 | Blade: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture
| 36 | 28 |
| |
| 2002 | Blade II: The Soundtrack
| 26 | 23 | ||
| 2004 | Blade: Trinity (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
| – | 68 | ||
In May 2013, Marvel had a working script for a new Blade film.[23] Snipes said in July 2015 that he hoped to reprise the role in any future film and had discussed this with Marvel.[24] [25] [26] In 2019, Marvel Studios announced a Blade reboot set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), with Mahershala Ali being cast as the title character.[27] It is scheduled to be released on November 7, 2025.[28]
Snipes reprises his role as the character in the 2024 film Deadpool & Wolverine.[29]