Just as suspected: with no news or momentum for Mahershala Ali’s ‘Blade,’ Marvel Studios has confirmed the film will no longer release on November 7, 2025, with Disney replacing the slot with 20th Century Studios’ ‘Predator: Badlands.’

The reboot of the iconic Wesley Snipes Marvel movie was first announced back in 2019 at San Diego Comic-Con, with Oscar winner Mahershala Ali to star. The project came to a halt when the pandemic arrived, which was the first major delay for the production. Industry strikes also played a big part in ‘Blade’s’ lengthy production.

On top of the film’s never-ending delays, then-attached director Bassam Tariq was preparing for a fall shoot but left the project due to scheduling conflicts. Back then, ‘Blade’ was set for a November 3, 2023 release.

“It’s been an honor working with the wonderful folks at Marvel. We were able to put together a killer cast and crew. Eager to see where the next director takes the film,” said Tariq to Marvel in a statement.

Filmmaker Yann Demange (‘Lovecraft Country’) came aboard the project in November 2022, only to leave the production almost 2 years later — the second director to move on from the ‘Blade’ reboot. Insiders say Demange left the film weeks before his departure announcement, as development ended up being much longer than Marvel intended.

Now, screenwriter Eric Pearson, who co-wrote Marvel’s upcoming ‘The Fantastic Four,’ is the latest scribe to take on the ‘Blade’ script — at least five other writers have wrote their own versions of the film.

Like Ali, Mia Goth is still attached to play supervillian Lilith and at the premiere for A24’s ‘MaXXXine’ said; “[Marvel] really care, they do. They want to make a great movie. That’s the sense that I get from them and that feels good.”

Kevin Feige emphasized the importance of crafting a great script before they put the film into principal photography.

Original Blade Wesley Snipes had a cameo as his iconic character in the highest grossing R-rated movie of all-time ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ ($1.3 billion), in which he said at one point: “There’s only been one Blade. There’s only ever gonna be one Blade” — a joke directed at the current reboot’s production crisis.

During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday night, Marvel’s Spiderman Tom Holland confirmed that his fourth ‘Spider-Man’ outing will begin shooting “next summer.”

“Everything’s good to go — we’re nearly there,” Holland said. “Super exciting. I can’t wait.”

Holland’s most recent Spider-Man film was 2021’s huge box office and critical success ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home,’ which saw his Spiderman teaming up with previous Spidermen: Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield.

The actor revealed he had recently read a draft of the ‘Spider-Man 4’ script with his girlfriend and co-star Zendaya, but that “it needs work, but the writers are doing a great job.”

“I read it three weeks ago and it really lit a fire in me,” Holland said. “Zendaya and I sat down and read it together and we at times were bouncing around the living room, like this is a real movie worthy of the fans’ respect.”

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