Blade (film series)

Blade Trilogy
The Blade Trilogy DVD box set
Directed by	Stephen Norrington Guillermo del Toro David S. Goyer
Written by	David S. Goyer Marv Wolfman Gene Colan
Starring	Wesley Snipes Kris Kristofferson
Music by	Mark Isham (Blade) Marco Beltrami (Blade II) Ramin Djawadi (Blade: Trinity)
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release dates	1998–2004
Running time	350 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$164 million
Box office	$415 million

The Blade films are based on the fictional Marvel Comics character of the same name, portrayed by Wesley Snipes. They were written by David S. Goyer, based on the comics by Marv Wolfman, and Gene Colan. The three films were directed by Stephen Norrington, Guillermo del Toro and Goyer respectively, and distributed by New Line Cinema.

The character was created in 1973 for Marvel Comics by writer Marv Wolfman and artist Gene Colan and was a supporting character in the 1970s comic Tomb of Dracula. In the comic, Blade's mother was bitten by a vampire while she was in labor with Blade. Thus, it can be inferred, Blade was born as a dhampir, a human with vampire genes.

Films

Blade (1998)

Blade grows up to become a vampire hunter, swearing vengeance on the creatures that killed his mother. He teams up with a man called Whistler, a retired vampire hunter and weapons expert.

Meanwhile, in the urban underworld, a feud is started between "pure-blood" vampires and those who had been human, but were "turned." Blade becomes aware of this and investigates further, uncovering a plot to raise the blood god La Magra, something he must stop at all costs.

Blade II (2002)

A rare mutation has occurred within the vampire community. "Reapers" are vampires so consumed with an insatiable bloodlust that they prey on vampires as well as humans, transforming victims who are unlucky enough to survive into Reapers themselves. Now their quickly expanding population threatens the existence of vampires, and soon there won't be enough humans in the world to satisfy their bloodlust. Blade, Whistler and an armory expert named Scud are curiously summoned by the Shadow Council. The council reluctantly admits that they are in a dire situation and they require Blade's assistance. Blade then tenuously enters into an alliance with The Bloodpack, an elite team of vampires who were trained in all modes of combat to defeat Blade. They'll use their skills instead to help wipe out the Reaper threat. Blade's team and the Bloodpack are the only line of defense which can prevent the Reaper population from wiping out the vampire and human populations.

Blade: Trinity (2004)

The vampires succeed in framing Blade for the killing of a human (who was in fact a familiar being used as bait). Blade, now in the public's eye and wanted by the FBI, has to join forces with the Nightstalkers, a human clan of vampire hunters. Blade, Hannibal King, and Abigail Whistler go after Danica Talos, who has succeeded in locating and resurrecting Drake, also known as Dracula, the first vampire and by far the most powerful. In order to stop him, Blade has to release a virus that will wipe out all vampires, but being a dhampir, he must face the possibility of also dying at the hands of the virus.

Future

By August 2012, the film rights to Blade had reverted to Marvel Studios.^[1] In May 2013, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Marvel had a working script for Blade.^[2] At San Diego Comic Con 2015, Snipes told IGN that both he and Marvel are now in talks about bringing Blade back to theaters.^[3][4] According to Underworld actress Kate Beckinsale, she revealed that Marvel are doing something with Blade, after she was asked about a crossover between both franchise.^[5]

Cast and characters

Character	Film			TV series
	Blade	Blade II	Blade: Trinity	Blade: The Series
Eric Brooks Blade	Wesley Snipes			Kirk Jones
Abraham Whistler	Kris Kristofferson			[Recordatory]
Deacon Frost	Stephen Dorff
Dr. Karen Jenson	N'Bushe Wright
Quinn	Donal Logue
Mercury	Arly Jover
Vanessa Brooks	Sanaa Lathan
Racquel	Traci Lords
Gitano Dragonetti	Udo Kier
Eli Damaskinos		Thomas Kretschmann
Jared Nomak		Luke Goss
Priest		Tony Curran
Nyssa Damaskinos		Leonor Varela
Dieter Reinhardt		Ron Perlman
Asad		Danny John-Jules
Snowman		Donnie Yen
Chupa		Matt Schulze
Scud		Norman Reedus
Dracula / Drake			Dominic Purcell
Abigail Whistler			Jessica Biel
Hannibal King			Ryan Reynolds
Danica Talos			Parker Posey
Dr. Edgar Vance			John Michael Higgins
Jarko Grimwood			Triple H
Asher Talos			Callum Keith Rennie
Krista Starr				Jill Wagner
Shen				Nelson Lee
Marcus Van Sciver				Neil Jackson
Chase				Jessica Gower
Agent Ray Collins				Larry Poindexter

Crew

Film	Director	Producer	Writer	Composer	Cinematographer	Editor
Blade	Stephen Norrington	Peter Frankfurt Wesley Snipes Robert Engelman Andrew J. Horne Avi Arad	David S. Goyer	Mark Isham	Theo van de Sande	Paul Rubell
Blade II	Guillermo del Toro	Peter Frankfurt Wesley Snipes Patrick Palmer Avi Arad		Marco Beltrami	Gabriel Beristain	Peter Amundsen
Blade: Trinity	David S. Goyer	Peter Frankfurt Wesley Snipes David S. Goyer Lynn Harris		Ramin Djawadi		Conrad Smart Howard E. Smith

Reception

Box office performance

Film	Release date	Box office gross			Box office ranking		Budget	Reference
		North America	Other territories	Worldwide	All time North America	All time worldwide
Blade	August 21, 1998	$70,087,718	$61,095,812	$131,183,530	#724		$45 million	[6][7]
Blade II	March 22, 2002	$82,348,319	$72,661,713	$155,010,032	#558		$54 million	[8]
Blade: Trinity	December 8, 2004	$52,411,906	$76,493,460	$128,905,366	#1,036		$65 million	[9]
Total		$204,847,943	$210,250,985	$415,098,928			$164 million

Critical and public reaction

Film	Rotten Tomatoes		Metacritic	CinemaScore
	Critics	Audience
Blade	54% (93 reviews)[10]	78%	45 (23 reviews)[11]	A-[12]
Blade II	57% (146 reviews)[13]	68%	52 (28 reviews)[14]	B+[12]
Blade: Trinity	25% (165 reviews)[15]	59%	38 (30 reviews)[16]	B+[12]
Average	45%	68%	45	B+

Soundtracks

Year	Title	Chart positions		Certifications (sales thresholds)
		U.S.	U.S. R&B
1998	Blade Released: August 25, 1998 Label: TVT	36	28	US: Gold
2002	Blade II Released: March 19, 2002 Label: Virgin	26	23
2004	Blade: Trinity Released: November 23, 2004 Label: New Line	–	68

See also

• Blade: The Series – A short-lived show on Spike TV that was set after Blade: Trinity.

References

1. Kit, Borys (August 14, 2012). "Fox's Daredevil Rights on Verge of Reverting to Marvel as Ticking Clock Looms (Video)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on August 15, 2012. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
2. Kit, Borys; Bond, Paul (May 7, 2013). "Marvel Cliffhanger: Robert Downey Jr.'s $50 Million Sequel Showdown". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved May 8, 2013.
3. The Player: Wesley Snipes, Philip Winchester Interview - Comic-Con 2015. YouTube. July 10, 2015.
4. Snipes "In Talks" With Marvel About Blade Reboot - IGN News. YouTube. July 10, 2015.
5. Jayson, Jay (October 7, 2016). "Marvel Is Doing Something With Blade According To Kate Beckinsale". ComicBook.com.
6. "Blade (1998)". Box Office Mojo. Box Office Mojo, LLC. Retrieved December 4, 2009.
7. "Blade Production Budget". The-Numbers. Retrieved December 4, 2009.
8. "Blade II (2002)". Box Office Mojo. Box Office Mojo, LLC. Retrieved December 4, 2009.
9. "Blade: Trinity (2004)". Box Office Mojo. Box Office Mojo, LLC. Retrieved December 4, 2009.
10. "Blade". Rotten Tomatoes. IGN Entertainment, Inc. Retrieved December 4, 2009.
11. "Blade (1998)". Metacritic. CNET Networks, Inc. Retrieved December 4, 2009.
12. "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
13. "Blade II". Rotten Tomatoes. IGN Entertainment, Inc. Retrieved December 4, 2009.
14. "Blade II (2002)". Metacritic. CNET Networks, Inc. Retrieved December 4, 2009.
15. "Blade: Trinity". Rotten Tomatoes. IGN Entertainment, Inc. Retrieved December 4, 2009.
16. "Blade: Trinity (2004)". Metacritic. CNET Networks, Inc. Retrieved December 4, 2009.

External links

• Blade at the Internet Movie Database
• Blade Trilogy at AllMovie
• Blade II at the Internet Movie Database
• Blade: Trinity at the Internet Movie Database
• Blade: The Series at the Internet Movie Database
• Blade trilogy: Blade – the Vampire Slayer, Blade II, Blade – Trinity