Marvel Sets New Director for 2024 Movie – The Hollywood Reporter | Popgen Tech

Marvel Studios’ Blade is being pulled again, this time with a whole new creative team.

Yann Demange, who directed the pilot of HBO’s boundary-pushing horror series Lovecraft Countryis on board to direct the vampire action thriller that still has Mahershala Ali attached to star.

Meanwhile, Michael Starrbury, who earned an Emmy nomination for writing an episode of Ava DuVernay’s drama, When They See Uswas hired to write a new script for the feature.

A new team put the project back on track after losing its original director, Bassam Tariq (Mogul Mowgli) in September. The parting of ways was due to creative differences and occurred abruptly while the project was in pre-production and headed for a November production start in Atlanta.

Instead of jamming another director on something that clearly needed an overhaul, Marvel pressed pause for a deeper look under the hood. That meant a page rewrite for the project, which struggled during the screenwriting phase. Ali was personally involved in the selection of the writer, according to sources.

Details are being kept under wraps but sources say the new intention is for Blade to be dark and gritty in tone, falling on the edgier side of Marvel fare and perhaps even finding common ground with the reminiscence. Blade films produced in the early 2000s by New Line.

The plan is to enter production in Atlanta in 2023, maintains to Blade release date set for Sept. 6, 2024

Blade was created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist Gene Colan for the 1973’s Dracula’s Tomb No. 10. He is a half-mortal, half-immortal who hunts vampires to avenge his mother, who was killed by a vampire when she gave birth to him. Wesley Snipes previously played the character in New Line’s trilogy.

Demange is a French-born, London-raised director who started in TV before branching out into features with dramatic thrillers ’71 and White Boy Rick. His work in Lovecraft Country set the dark and brooding tone for the series, dealing with themes of race as well as various horrors while also providing a platform for stars Jonathan Majors and Jurnee Smollett to trampoline to stardom. He is currently working on a series adapted from David Cronenberg’s seminal horror movie, Scanners, for HBO, which he will direct and executive produce. He was represented by CAA and lawyers Carlos Goodman and Sue Rogers.

Starrbury, who wrote a coming-of-age drama The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Petehave The Come Up in pre-production with Lil Rel Howery set to star. He is repped by CAA, Circle of Confusion and attorney Robert Szymanski.