“In early August [1998], New Line Cinema released Blade; […] the Wesley Snipes vehicle quickly earned $70 million, four times the intake of the much higher-budget Howard the Duck. […]
“All of a sudden, there was a switch that went off. People were looking at superheroes differently. We had the door open for people to start thinking about comic books as films.””
—
“Marvel: The Untold Story” by Sean Howe (quote by Jimmy Palmiotti)
People talk a lot about the original Iron Man film revitalizing the idea of superhero cinema, and it did make a material contribution. But Iron Man and the X-Men and Spider-man films that preceded it all owe their existence to Wesley Snipes as Blade – a film nobody thought would profit, let alone become a sleeper hit, and which revolutionized the way people thought about the intersection between print comics and live-action cinema.
Blade wasn’t the first superhero film, but it was the herald of a new generation of them.
I’m thrilled to see people celebrating ten years since Iron Man busted loose and changed the landscape of cinema – but I hope you all mark your calendars for August 19th to celebrate 20 years of Blade as well!
I’ve been filling a bunch of requests for patrons who preordered my book, This Vacant Body 🙂 This request was for Hannibal wearing that cozy red sweater from the early seasons and Will burying his face in it~ I flipped these a lot when I was drawing so Will’s scar ended up on the wrong side haha let me die
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