Marvel boss Kevin Feige doesn’t want to rush the upcoming Blade movie.

Mahershala Ali has been gearing up to play the titular vampire hunter since it was announced almost five years ago. However, the production has suffered several setbacks, including the exit of first director Bassam Tariq and then his replacement Yann Demange.

During the press tour for Deadpool & Wolverine, Marvel Studios boss Feige explained that the team were taking their time to get Blade just right.

“I mean, for the last two years as we’ve been trying to crack that movie, the most important thing for us is not rushing it and making sure we are making the right Blade movie. Because there were some great Blade movies years ago,” he said in an interview with BlackTree TV.

Feige went on to note that the original Blade trilogy, starring Wesley Snipes, was rated R and the reboot will likely be the same.

“They were all rated R. So I think that’s, like Deadpool, inherent with the character of Blade,” he added.

Blade has had a troubled production since it was announced at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019. It was originally scheduled to shoot in late 2022 but this plan went awry when Tariq left over creative differences. The project was delayed once again with the writers’ strike last year.

Snipes, who previously played Blade in three films between 1998 to 2004, joked about the reboot’s delays on social media in June.

“Blade, lordylordylordy… folks still lookin for the secret sauce, ridin snowmobiles in traffic, kinda rough,” he wrote on X/Twitter. “Daywalkers make it look easy, don’t they?”

Despite the delays, Blade is set to be released in November 2025.

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