Disney has lost yet another director on a tent pole franchise, this time it was the upcoming Marvel film ‘Blade.’ Usually the change is due to one of two excuses. Either it’s “creative differences’ or “scheduling conflict” and in the case of director Bassam Tariq it’s the later. They sure do go through a lot of directors over there. Usually it’s Lucasfilm that’s the culprit but this time it’s with Marvel.
According to The Hollywood Reporter Marvel gave them this statement:
“Due to continued shifts in our production schedule, Bassam is no longer moving forward as director of Blade but will remain an executive producer on the film. We appreciate Bassam’s talent and all the work he’s done getting Blade to where it is.”
Bassam Tariq also made a statement:
“It’s been an honor working with the wonderful folks at Marvel. We were able to put together a killer cast and crew. Eager to see where the next director takes the film.”
The new ‘Blade’ film was set to begin shooting this November for a release date of November 3, 2023. Now that Disney / Marvel need to find a new director, this will likely change.
‘Blade’ has seen some issues before with the production start being shifted once or twice before. There are also stories that the script has seen several rewrites. Now the director is changing. This sounds like “creative differences” to me. I think Disney is aware people were noticing the constant “creative differences” excuse so the new excuse is usually “scheduling conflicts.” Recently we saw this with Patty Jenkins’ ‘Rogue Squadron’ film too. Now that ‘Star Wars’ film has been completely removed from the release slate.
The new ‘Blade’ film is one that is highly anticipated. I’m sure Marvel wants to get it “right” but the way to do that is to keep it close to the source material. When Marvel skews too far from the source, or makes too many changes, it usually leads to lackluster returns. They need to make a good ‘Blade’ film that feels like ‘Blade’ and it is money in the bank.
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