With Wesley Snipes facing a jail sentence due to his habit of sticking his fingers in his ears and going ‘la-la-la, I can’t hear you’ whenever the taxman turned up asking for his money, the future of the Blade franchise looked bleak. And that’s not even considering the awful last film,** Blade: Trinity**, which did plenty to hammer the final nails into the Daywalker’s coffin.
But you can’t keep a good bloodsucker down, it seems, for there may be another Blade trilogy coming our way. And, wouldn’t you know it, it’s a prequel trilogy.
The idea was first mooted by Stephen Dorff, who told the impeccably-credentialed Sunday Mail last year that he was chomping at the bit to play Blade’s arch-nemesis, Deacon Frost one more three last times.
But today, Comics2Film managed to get a quote from original Blade director Stephen Norrington which, given that he’s more elusive than a Wesley Snipes tax return, was one heck of an achievement. And Norrington confirms that Blade and Frost: The Early Years (Empire’s working title) is in the works, just as soon as he’s finished reworking The Crow.
Norrington told them that Dorff himself came up with the idea for the movie, which "has evolved into a very interesting story." And, even though Snipes’ involvement is in doubt right now, Norrington is adamant that Blade will show up in a Blade movie. "The linkage to Blade is still big in the equation,” added the Brit director.
Hmm… intriguing. The first Blade is a landmark film in the comic book genre – it was a fairly big hit in 1998 and persuaded Marvel that there was a market out there for movies based on their properties. You could argue that without Blade, there’d be no X-Men, no Spider-Man, no Iron Man… at least, not in their current incarnations.
And, as good as Guillermo del Toro’s sequel is, the first Blade is by far the best of the trilogy, with Norrington’s hyper-stylised visuals mixing brilliantly with the action-packed heroics. Since then, Norrington’s career has taken a downturn, post-League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and he’s only just come back to directing. So a return to Blade makes sense, even if it isn’t the big box-office draw that it once was.
As for Dorff – while he shows up impressively in Public Enemies, it’s been a while since he co-toplined a big movie, so you can see why he would be drawn to this. And Snipes is almost certain to come on board, if it all works out. After all, he’s going to have a big tax bill to pay at some point.
But does the world really need another Blade movie? And if so, do we need a prequel that, by its very definition, should be devoid of tension? Why not just figure out a way to bring Frost back and make this Blade IV?
But hey, we don’t make the decisions around here. That’s why they pay someone else the big bucks.
But what do you think, readers? Hyped by the prospect of three more Blades, bringing the total to six (not even Gillette can manage that many blades)? Excited by the return of Norrington? Let us know, below…