Yesterday evening, news broke that Marvel Studios has pushed back the release dates for Avengers: Secret Wars, Blade, Fantastic Four, and Deadpool 3. Fans are understandably disappointed, as those are four projects that are among the MCU's most highly anticipated.
The Hollywood Reporter has now elaborated on the reason for at least one of them being delayed, confirming that Marvel Studios has temporarily shut down production on Blade in Atlanta.
The plan had been for cameras to start rolling next month, but plans had to be altered "while [Marvel Studios] conducts a search for a filmmaker and further develops the feature." Members of the movie's crew were notified on Tuesday, and the hope now is for Blade to resume production in early 2023.
It's noted that production has actually been shifted a couple of times due to what the trade calls "several rounds of script rewrites." They also confirm that X-Men '97 and Moon Knight writer Beau DeMayo is Blade's current scribe.
The initial expectation had been that Marvel Studios would rush to find a new director for the movie after Bassam Tariq stepped down. Instead, they're "[taking] the time to coalesce other aspects of the feature project," with one source pointing out "They want to really get it right."
We certainly can't fault them for that.
In related release date news, there have been some changes to upcoming Untiled Marvel movies as well. The one previously dated for February 14, 2025 has moved to November 7, 2025, while the one that was scheduled for May 1, 2026 has been removed from the schedule. Why? Well, it's obviously because Avengers: Secret Wars is now coming on that date!
So, lots of changes, but with Marvel Studios spinning so many plates in The Multiverse Saga, something had to give. It's just a shame those are some of the movies we were most excited about...