Blade Franchise To Continue Through Spinoffs?

1998’s Wesley Snipes starrer, Blade, was one of my favorite action flicks of the time as a young teen. It introduced bullet time before the first Matrix came out, it helped kick-off what would eventually become a vampire craze and most importantly, it helped set up Marvel as a viable film franchise.

Despite the film’s R-rating and weak reviews, it and its successors each managed to bank around $150 million each in worldwide box office earnings.

Unfortunately, the trilogy was rounded off with a movie that took screen time away from the lead, was riddled with behind-the-scenes problems, and was poorly received by critics and many moviegoers making disappointing box-office numbers considering its increased budget relative to the first two films.

For me however, I dug the third movie and liked the villainous Dracula played by Dominic Purcell. The main issue for me with that movie was Jessica Biel’s bow-wielding mp3-listening-while-fighting character.

I really enjoyed the first and third installments and disliked the second. My favorite part of the franchise however was the character Deacon Frost, who was the main villain of the first movie and played by Stephen Dorff.

Let’s not forget that there was some serious talent behind these films as well with David S. Goyer having written all three films and directing the third and with Guillermo del Toro having directed the second.

Unfortunately, Dorff’s character met his bubbly end in the conclusion of the first film and therefore did not live to see the moonlight in the sequels – they sure could have used him…

For those who feel the same as me about the character, we may all be in luck!

Stephen Norrington, director of the first Blade (and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen…) told Comics2Film that he’ll be returning to the Blade franchise once he’s done re-inventing The Crow.

The current plan is to have Stephen Dorff return to the franchise and lead the prequel trilogy that Norrington has created. Dorff spoke to a UK newspaper about it and was all for it. He said the film would be “a prequel to the Blade movies, Deacon’s story. It’s a new trilogy the director has created. It will [be] cool.”

Norrington confirmed what Dorff said by saying it’s not quite that but something similar. He also gives thanks to Dorff for being integral in coming up with the idea for the new project. Thankfully, the director also hits on what’s most important about this film by saying “The linkage to ‘Blade’ is still big in the equation.”

If this happens, it won’t be for a few years so we have plenty of time to speculate. Who knows, maybe by then Snipes will be making a comeback and we could see another Blade film.

I’m not sure how they can flesh out a new set of films without the lead of the franchise. Most of the enjoyment came from watching action sequences where Blade would help convert vampires into ash with a variety of weapons.

What will these new movies do that all the vampire movies and TV shows out now, don’t? Either way, I’m interested in finding out more details.

What do you think of a Deacon Frost-centered film or trilogy?

Source: Mania