While it seemed like Blade was finally on track to start filming next month, The Hollywood Reporter has learned that Marvel Studios is halting pre-production on the film immediately due to the ongoing writers' strike.
2x Academy Award-winner Mahershala Ali, who is set to play the title role, and the rest of the cast and crew were informed of the decision earlier this afternoon.
Nic Pizzolatto had been recently tapped to rewrite the script, and while he had completed several weeks of work, "time simply ran out" for the studio and Marvel had to pause production until the strike is over.
As for the rest of the slate, Marvel Studios is currently in production on multiple Phase 5 projects with the Anthony Mackie-fronted Captain America: New World Order and the Kathryn Hahn-led Disney+ series Agatha: Coven of Chaos both filming in Atlanta, while Charlie Cox's Daredevil: Born Again is filming in New York and Wonder Man starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is filming in Los Angele.
Deadpool 3, the highly-anticipated Ryan Reynolds/Hugh Jackman team-up, which does have a completed script, is gearing up to start production in London later this month, while Thunderbolts is also still expected to start filming in June.
However, any of the aforementioned titles could see their production schedules and release windows shift if the strike lasts longer than four-to-six weeks. Marvel Studios does already incorporate additional photography into their initial shooting schedules, so it's believed that if any on-set rewrites were required, those scenes would theoretically be pushed back until reshoots.
Fantastic Four, which is actively in the process of casting its core four, is currently eyeing a January 2024 production start date, but it's a considerably more fluid situation that could change if the strike were to last for six months or more.
Additionally, in a different corner of the multiverse, Marvel/Sony's Venom 3 is slated to start filming this summer in London and while the script from Kelly Marcel and Tom Hardy is ready to go, the writers' strike will also prevent them from any on-set improvisation.
While Marvel Studios, fortunately, has several projects already in production and also has the luxury of being able to move their projects all around the release calendar, many other studios will likely be impacted far more significantly as most are not prepared to shoot more than one or two projects during the duration the strike, especially if it goes on multiple weeks.
The previous writers' strike affected several big-budget blockbusters, including, but not limited to, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Star Trek, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra just to name a few, so it should be of the utmost importance of every party to get this matter resolved as soon as possible.