Rabat – Marvel’s Blade movie is expected to be partially filmed in Morocco, Collider, an entertainment-focused American news outlet, reported on June 24.
Other scenes of the movie will be shot in New Orleans, Cleveland, and Ohio, the report added, noting that the majority of the Blade movie is set to take place at Typer Perry Studios in Atlanta.
Blade, which was postponed due the COVID-19 pandemic, will hit theaters on November 3, 2023. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige shared the news during the company’s blockbuster panel on June 23.
Marvel’s press release on the event reported that the Blade will begin shooting in October.
Academy awards winner Ali Mahershala will star in the movie alongside Delroy Lindo and Aaron Pierre. Details on Lindo and Pierre’s roles are yet to be disclosed, Collider noted. Meanwhile, Eternals’ Dane Whitman, played by Kit Harington, is likely to appear in the film especially since Blade’s voice is featured in the post-credits scene of Eternals.
With the production of Blade being delayed for three years, the movie will be part of Marvel’s Phase 5 that is expected to last from 2023 to 2025. As it was first announced in 2019 during Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) panel, the upcoming Blade movie is the only project alongside the Fantastic 4 movie that has not yet been released.
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The fictional character of Blade made its first appearance as a supporting character in July 1973 in the Tomb of Dracula #10 created by comic book artist Gene Colan and writer Marv Wolfman. The half-man and half-vampire devoted his life to becoming the perfect vampire hunter to rid the world of vampires.
The character was later adapted into films, series, and video games. Wesley Snipes is well-known for portraying the character in the 1998 movie “Blade,” “Blade II” in 2002, and “Blade: Trinity” in 2004. American hardcore rapper Sticky Fingaz also played the role in “Blade: The Series” which was broadcasted on TV from June to September 2006.
With parts of Blade’s scenes being filmed in Morocco, the Marvel movie joins a long list of popular or celebrated foreign movies that were partly or entirely shot in the North African country.
The illustrious list includes, among many others, “Mektoub” (1919), “The Last Temptation of Christ” (1988), “The Mummy” (1999), “Gladiator” (2000), and “Games of Thrones” (2011-2019).
Most recently, “The Forgiven,” a mystery drama movie expected to be released in September 2022, was shot in Erfoud, a town in the Sahara desert in southern Morocco.
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