Blade (1998 film)

Blade
Blade
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Stephen Norrington
Written by	David S. Goyer
Based on	Blade; by Marv Wolfman; Gene Colan;
Produced by	Peter Frankfurt; Wesley Snipes; Robert Engelman;
Starring	Wesley Snipes; Stephen Dorff; Kris Kristofferson; N'Bushe Wright; Donal Logue;
Cinematography	Theo van de Sande
Edited by	Paul Rubell
Music by	Mark Isham
Production; companies	New Line Cinema; Marvel Enterprises; Amen Ra Films; Imaginary Forces;
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date	August 21, 1998;
Running time	120 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$45 million
Box office	$131.2 million

Blade is a 1998 American superhero film directed by Stephen Norrington and written by David S. Goyer. Based on the Marvel Comics character Blade, it is the first installment of the Blade franchise. The film stars Wesley Snipes as the titular character with Stephen Dorff, Kris Kristofferson and N'Bushe Wright in supporting roles. Blade is a Dhampir, a human with vampire strengths but not their weaknesses, who fights against vampires.

Blade was released in the United States on August 21, 1998, and was a commercial success, grossing $70 million at the U.S. box office, and $60.2 million worldwide. Despite mixed reviews from film critics, the film received a positive reception from audiences and has since garnered a cult following. It is also hailed as one of Snipes's signature roles.^[4]

Blade was noted as a dark superhero film for its time,^[5] as well as being Marvel's first successful film. It was followed by two sequels, Blade II (2002) and Blade: Trinity (2004), both written by Goyer, who also directed the latter. In 2024 Snipes reprised his role as Blade in the film Deadpool & Wolverine.

^ "BLADE (18)". British Board of Film Classification. September 18, 1998. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved April 29, 2015.
^ Cite error: The named reference BloodScreen was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Blade at Box Office Mojo
^ Harp, Justin (July 21, 2019). "Marvel is rebooting Blade without Wesley Snipes". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on October 1, 2020. Retrieved August 8, 2020. Instead of Snipes reprising his iconic role...
^ Lichtenfeld, Eric (2007). Action Speaks Louder: Violence, Spectacle, and the American Action. Wesleyan University Press. p. 289. ISBN 978-0-8195-6801-4.

[1] "BLADE (18)". British Board of Film Classification. September 18, 1998. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved April 29, 2015.

[BloodScreen-2] Cite error: The named reference BloodScreen was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[BOM-3] Blade at Box Office Mojo

[4] Harp, Justin (July 21, 2019). "Marvel is rebooting Blade without Wesley Snipes". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on October 1, 2020. Retrieved August 8, 2020. Instead of Snipes reprising his iconic role...

[Litchenfeld289-5] Lichtenfeld, Eric (2007). Action Speaks Louder: Violence, Spectacle, and the American Action. Wesleyan University Press. p. 289. ISBN 978-0-8195-6801-4.

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