Your Nerd Side Show Halloween Special: part 01
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A new report by Variety dives into what Marvel Studios has been planning for their upcoming projects. With Marvel movies not making as big of an impact as they used to at the box office, there may be some big moves made to cut down on spending with the MCU's film slate. Reportedly, this has affected Blade, which is planned to move forward with a budget of less than $100 million. Typically, MCU-set films are given budgets of at least $200 million, as was the case for this year's Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and The Marvels.
In fact, Blade would mark the first film in the MCU to be budgeted at less than $100 million since the cinematic universe was established by Iron Man in 2008, which itself had a budget of $186 million. Ant-Man and its first sequel, Ant-Man and the Wasp, currently sit as the lowest-budgeted MCU films previously released, as they were each made with $130 million. The MCU-set shows made for Disney+ were apparently not much cheaper, with Variety reporting that one episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, which consisted of nine episodes, was budgeted at $25 million each.
Will Blade Survive Its Budget Cuts?
While Blade is set to get a much smaller budget compared to other MCU films, it's not necessarily a death knell for the project. It may just lead to a more grounded project that's fairly light on its runtime, special effects, and other superhero cameos compared to most MCU films. It could also be seen as promising for acclaimed Logan writer Michael Green to board the project, given how that movie also had a budget that was closer to $100 million.
This new take on Blade has been in development for several years since it was announced in 2019, and it has endured great turbulence up to this point. It's gone through several writers and directors before Green came on board, and there were reports that lead star Mahershala Ali was ready to walk away from the project due to screenplay frustrations. These behind-the-scenes problems have also caused delays, as Blade was originally planned for a 2023 release. It has undergone multiple delays before getting pushed to Feb. 14, 2025.
Source: Variety
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