New Line Cinema
BLADE TRILOGY
Starring Wesley Snipes (Blade), Kris Kristofferson (Abraham Whistler) Stephen Dorf (Deacon Frost), Jessica Biel (Abigail Whistler), Ryan Reynolds (Hanibal King), and Dominic Purcell (Drake)
Blade Directed by Stephen Norrington … Blade II Directed by Guillermo del Toro … Blade: Trinity Directed by David S. Goyer
Blade Produced by Peter Frankfurt, Wesley Snipes, and Robert Engelman … Blade II Produced by Peter Frankfurt, Wesley Snipes, and Patrick Palmer … Blade: Trinity Directed by Peter Frankfurt, Wesley Snipes, David S. Goyer, and Lynn Harris
Blade Trilogy Written by Mark Steven Johnson
Blade Music By Mark Isham … Blade II Music By Marco Belltrami … Blade: Trinity Music By Ramin Djawadi, and The RZA
Blade by Distributed New Line Cinema … Blade II Distributed by New Line Cinema and Warner Brothers Pictures … Blade: Trinity Distributed by New Line Cinema
Blade Run Time: 2 hours … Blade II Run Time: 1 hour and 57 minutes … Blade: Trinity Run Time: 1 hour and 53 minutes
Blade World Premier: August 21, 1998 … Blade II World Premier: March 22, 2002 … Blade: Trinity World Premier: December 8, 2004
Blade Worldwide Box Office: $131 million … Blade II Worldwide Box Office: $155 million … Blade: Trinity Worldwide Box Office: $132 million
Blade Rotten Tomatoes Score: 58% … Blade II Rotten Tomatoes Score: 57% … Blade: Trinity Rotten Tomatoes Score: 24%
New Line Cinema
Fun Blade Trilogy Facts
In the Mid-1990’s and facing potential bankruptcy, Marvel licensed out the film rights to several of their characters in an effort to keep the company afloat. The upstart Marvel Studios, led by Avi Arad, negotiated these deals which would see other Studios finance and distribute Marvel films with Marvel assisting in a production role that would give them a say in the script-writing process, the hiring of directors, and casting. Marvel Studios’ first release after these licensing deals were arranged was with New Line Cinema, who produced Blade in 1998.
Blade II was the first sequel film under the Marvel Studios banner to be released theatrically. The success of Blade in 1998 paved the way for an X-Men film in 2000, and a Spider-Man film in 2002. Blade II was the third Marvel film to be released by Marvel Studios.
Blade: Trinity made the Blade franchise the first under the Marvel Studios banner to emerge as a trilogy. The film also boasted Marvel Studios’ very first post-credits scene which would become a staple of Marvel Studios production in later years.
On September 6, 2005, Marvel Enterprises became Marvel Entertainment; a reflection of the company’s new initiative to finance its own motion pictures through Marvel Studios. All four of the Blade films were produced and released prior to this massive shift in direction for Marvel Studios.
In 2013, the rights to Blade reverted back to Marvel Entertainment by default in 2013, landing the character under the Marvel Studios and Walt Disney Company umbrella. Disney had acquired Marvel Entertainment and Marvel Studios with it at the end of 2009. Six years later Marvel Studios reclaimed the Cinematic rights to Blade, Marvel Studios announced at San Diego Comic Con 2019, that a Blade film set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe was in active development with actor Mahershala Ali cast to portray Blade within the MCU. Blade made his highly anticipated Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in a voice cameo during a credits scene in 2021’s Eternals. This marked the official on-screen debut of vampires within the MCU after previous mentions in Thor: Ragnarok and Loki: Season One.
Ryan Reynolds, who portrayed Hanibal King in Blade: Trinity would go on to portray Wade Wilson / Deadpool for 20th Century Fox, debuting in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine before landing a starring role in 2016’s Deadpool and 2018’s Deadpool 2. Reynolds’ Deadpool will be making his MCU debut in 2024’s Deadpool 3, produced by Marvel Studios.
Since the announcement in 2019, Marvel Studios’ Blade film has faced numerous delays. The movie has juggled directors and was initially planned for a 2023 release, before being moved to 2024. The film has yet to enter production however and will in all likelihood be put off until at least 2025.
New Line Cinema Cinema
My Blade Trilogy Review
Blade was the first-ever Marvel Studios production and the foundation upon which modern Marvel movies were built upon. Back in 1998, when Blade was released, most people either didn’t know or didn’t care that Blade was a comic book movie. The audience the film drew were attracted to the movie for its horror themes and unique action sequences, and most of those who saw it left the theater pleased with their experience.
I’m a longtime horror movie fan and appreciate vampire stories. The late Anne Rice is my favorite author, and I count films such as Interview with the Vampire, The Lost Boys, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and Fright Night amongst my favorite movies, and I am a big Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan as well.
Blade is a human-vampire hybrid that hunts vampires and boasts the ability to walk in daylight unphased. That’s really all the set-up you need with the character, and I decided to review this trilogy as a whole here due to the fact that the plots aren’t all that deep most of themes are recurring ones.
The first Blade film was unlike any comic book movie that had ever been made up to the time of its release. No one wore a cape or cowl, and the film was grounded in horror and martial arts fighting with a solid mix of guns and swords to go along with the vampires that comprised the movie. Blade boasts some tremendous choreography and some great makeup work. The opening blood bath scene was outstanding, and it perfectly set the tone for what the film was going to be: loud and bloody; scary and violent!
I thought Wesley Snipes was perfectly cast in the role of Blade and Stephen Dorff was a perfect foil as Deacon Frost. Dorff oozed charisma and attitude and his was the performance I enjoyed most in the first film.
Blade 2 was a step backwards for the franchise from the first film in my opinion. While Wesley Snipes was every bit as good in the titular role as he was the first time around, this film lacked the punch that the first Blade film boasted. Stephen Dorff was sorely missed and while the notion of Blade teaming up with the vampires that he hates so much was intriguing, the supporting cast just weren’t very compelling as characters for me. The Reapers were a cool concept visually, but the Jared Nomak character wasn’t all that great either. The film starts strong but slugs along from there, failing to crescendo in a satisfying way like the first film (CGI aside) did. Blade II is my least-favorite film from the trilogy.
I like Blade: Trinity a lot more than the average person does. Ryan Reynolds is the film’s greatest highlight. The best way I can describe Ryan’s performance as Hannibal King is by saying that this was his unofficial Deadpool audition. Ryan was extremely funny, mouthy, and entertaining. I loved him in this movie! I also thought Jessica Biel did good with what she had to work with, and I enjoyed Parker Posey’s vampire character.
The biggest things I didn’t like about Blade: Trinity were Wesley Snipes and “Dracula.” Wesley Snipes clearly phoned it in throughout the third film, while the ball was dropped on including Dracula (called “Drake” throughout the movie). Blade vs Dracula should have sold this project, but Dracula was a boring and uninteresting character and Dominic Purcell and Wesley Snipes both were outshined by other members of the cast.
Any three of the Blade movies are fun popcorn flicks to throw on during dark or spooky nights. The blood bath will thrill you, and Deacon Frost will entertain you, Pearl will disgust you, The Reapers will scare you, and Hannibal King will make you laugh!
It’s going to be cool to see Blade in the MCU when he finally arrives and I’m anxious to see him share the screen with the likes of Man-Thing, Werewolf by Night, Ghost Rider, and other spooky and supernatural Marvel characters!
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