Blade delayed due to writers' strike

The 'Blade' reboot has been delayed due to the Hollywood writers' strike.

Mahershala Ali had been due to take on the role of the vampire hunter previously played by Wesley Snipes in a new big screen version of the Marvel Comics creation with production expected to start in Atlanta, Georgia the coming weeks but reports suggest the film has now been shelved temporarily because of the ongoing walk-out by the Writers Guild of America (WGA) union.

The Hollywood Reporter confirms the movie will get back on track as soon as the strike is concluded. 'Blade' had been scheduled for a 2024 release but it's not yet known whether the delay will have an impact on the planned cinema release.

A source involved with Marvel projects told the publication: "There’s a billion dollars net in production costs that are exposed because of the strike. That’s certainly a concern."

'Blade' was previously pushed back from a planned 2023 release after original director Bassam Tariq exited the project just two months before filming had been due to start.

Yann Demange took over helping duties and 'True Detective' creator Nic Pizzolatto was brought in to work on the script, but ran out of time to complete the project before the start of the WGA walk-out - meaning production has to stop for the time being.

The strike began on Tuesday (02.05.23) and has affected late night talks shows including 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!', 'The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon' and 'Late Night with Seth Meyers' which have all been taken off-air with re-runs playing instead.

Sketch show 'Saturday Night Live' is also off-air while TV drama 'Billions' was forced to halt production on Thursday (04.05.23).