Blade (1998)
Blade is a 1998 American vampire-superhero action film starring Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson and Stephen Dorff, and is loosely based on the Marvel Comics character Blade. Snipes plays Blade, a human-vampire hybrid who protects humans from vampires.
The film was directed by Stephen Norrington and written by David S. Goyer. Despite mixed reviews, Blade grossed $70 million at the U.S. box office, and $131.2 million worldwide. It was followed by two sequels, Blade II and Blade: Trinity.
Facts about Blade (1998)
1. Wesley Snipes became attached to the project because he was in discussions with Marvel Comics to be Black Panther, a project that is still pending as of 2005.
2. Jet Li was offered the role to play Deacon Frost, but opted to do Lethal Weapon 4 instead.
3. LL Cool J was originally considered for the part of Blade.
4. When David S. Goyer first pitched the idea of doing a Blade movie, the executives of New Line felt there were only three actors who could possible do the role: Wesley Snipes, Denzel Washington and Laurence Fishburne, but in Goyer's mind, Snipes was always the perfect choice for the character of Blade.
5. Kris Kristofferson's character Whistler was created for Blade's cameo on the Spider-Man: The Animated Series cartoon show. He was liked so much by Marvel CEOs that he was adopted into the Marvel Universe.
The film was directed by Stephen Norrington and written by David S. Goyer. Despite mixed reviews, Blade grossed $70 million at the U.S. box office, and $131.2 million worldwide. It was followed by two sequels, Blade II and Blade: Trinity.
Facts about Blade (1998)
1. Wesley Snipes became attached to the project because he was in discussions with Marvel Comics to be Black Panther, a project that is still pending as of 2005.
2. Jet Li was offered the role to play Deacon Frost, but opted to do Lethal Weapon 4 instead.
3. LL Cool J was originally considered for the part of Blade.
4. When David S. Goyer first pitched the idea of doing a Blade movie, the executives of New Line felt there were only three actors who could possible do the role: Wesley Snipes, Denzel Washington and Laurence Fishburne, but in Goyer's mind, Snipes was always the perfect choice for the character of Blade.
5. Kris Kristofferson's character Whistler was created for Blade's cameo on the Spider-Man: The Animated Series cartoon show. He was liked so much by Marvel CEOs that he was adopted into the Marvel Universe.
Despite the fact that the Marvel character, Blade, was essentially unknown to the general public (at the time), this factor did not stop the film from being successful.Blade (1998) is seen as having been one of the better comic book movies of its time and started the trend for much more of these films:
1. Blade was one of the first successful comic book based films to be released after the disastrous performance of Batman & Robin and Steel. Its success, along with the even bigger success of the earlier Men in Black, convinced Marvel to develop the X-Men film series as well as the Spider-Man film series.
2. IGN ranked Blade as the 63rd greatest comic character stating that Blade is the most iconic hero to spring from the period of monster-themed stories. UGO Networks placed Blade as one of the top heroes of entertainment quoting that "Blade has to get props for being the most obscure Marvel character to ever get a film deal... and television deal, too!"
Source: rorytufano.blogspot.co.uk / Wikipedia
1. Blade was one of the first successful comic book based films to be released after the disastrous performance of Batman & Robin and Steel. Its success, along with the even bigger success of the earlier Men in Black, convinced Marvel to develop the X-Men film series as well as the Spider-Man film series.
2. IGN ranked Blade as the 63rd greatest comic character stating that Blade is the most iconic hero to spring from the period of monster-themed stories. UGO Networks placed Blade as one of the top heroes of entertainment quoting that "Blade has to get props for being the most obscure Marvel character to ever get a film deal... and television deal, too!"
Source: rorytufano.blogspot.co.uk / Wikipedia