Official Site

Release Date: December 10th, 2004 (wide)

Title Note: (3/14/03) Since the second film was called Blade II, there's a pretty good chance that the title of this movie will actually be 'Blade III', and not 'Blade 3', but I'm going with the '3' for now because it's easier for people to find (ie, more people search for 'Blade 3' than 'Blade iii'). (6/18/03) I've received an anonymous tip that the current title for this third movie drops the numbers altogether, with the religion-referencing 'Blade: Trinity.' (3/31/04) Apparently wanting to avoid going head-to-head with Alien vs Predator, which recently moved to August 13th, New Line has bumped this movie back another four months until December 10th, where it will go up against Ocean's Twelve. New Line doesn't really have an inherent big December movie this year now that the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy is over, so it makes sense that they are trying to fill an action movie gap.

MPAA Rating Note: (3/14/03) It's pretty much a sure thing that this film will be rated R like the first two movies.

Distributor: New Line Cinema

Cast: Wesley Snipes (Blade), Ryan Reynolds (Hannibal King), Kris Kristofferson (Whistler), Jessica Biel (Abigail Whistler), John Michael Higgins, Paul "HHH" Levesque, Natasha Lyonne, Parker Posey (Danica), Dominic Purcell (Dracula/Drake), James Remar, Steve Braun (FBI Agent Wilson Hale), Scott Heindl (Gedge), Callum Keith Rennie, Ron Selmour (Dex); other cast not announced yet.

Cast Notes: (8/21/03) "Variety" reports that Ryan Reynolds (National Lampoon's Van Wilder) has come aboard to costar as Hannibal King, one of the Nightstalkers. The trade also mentions that Ashley Scott, who played the Huntress on TV's Birds of Prey is currently being "circled" to play Whistler's daughter, Abigail. A site called TheAverageJoes.net posted a rumor Monday that professional wrestler HHH (AKA Jean Paul Levesque) may be in talks for a role. (8/27/03) Jessica Biel has landed the role of Abigail Whistler. (9/18/03) HHH's involvement has been confirmed! (10/26/03) John Michael Higgins is the second member of Christopher Guest's ensemble comedy troupe, after Parker Posey, to join the cast (Higgins played Michael McKean's boyfriend in Best in Show). Also signing on recently are James Remar and Natasha Lyonne.

Director: David S. Goyer (Zig Zag)

Director Notes: (3/14/03) There's a very strong chance that the director of this final 'Blade' movie might actually be David S. Goyer, who has been the screenwriter for the entire trilogy. Goyer made his directorial debut with Zig Zag (which also starred Wesley Snipes), which went direct-to-video in 2002. Someone else who has been in talks for the job is German director Oliver Hirschbiegel, who made a really impressive debut last year with Das Experiment. (6/3/03) Goyer will indeed be making this his second film as director, after shaping the first two 'Blade' movies as screenwriter.

Screenwriter: David S. Goyer (Blade, Blade II, The Crow: City of Angels; cowriter of Dark City, The Puppet Masters; he's also got Freddy vs Jason coming soon; and Batman 5 in development)

Based Upon: This is the third and final film in the 'Blade' series starring Wesley Snipes (who wants to move on to doing 'Black Panther' movies next), which started with Blade in 1998 and continued in 2002 with Blade II. These movies are based upon the "Blade" vampire hunter character as published by Marvel Comics (which started in the 1970s as a supporting character in "Tomb of Dracula"). The box office of the franchise is on the rise, with Blade earning $70 million in the U.S. in 1998, and Blade II earning $81.6 million in 2002.

Setting Note: (3/14/03) Early reports about this movie described the setting as being 20 years in the future after the vampires had taken over the world (ala a "Planet of the Vampires"), but David S. Goyer has revised the script to being set as the apocalypse starts, rather than after the fact.

New Characters Note: (3/14/03) David S. Goyer told Comics2Film in October that two more supporting characters from Blade's "Tomb of Dracula" roots will be joining him on the big screen: Hannibal King and Frank Drake (a descendant of Count Dracula!). Together, the trio of Blade, King and Drake formed a vampire-hunting team called "The Nightstalkers" who had their own short-lived comic in the early 1990s. (8/21/03) In their article about Ryan Reynolds' casting as Hannibal King, "Variety" also mentioned that this may lead to a spin-off film about Hannibal King and his new romantic interest (AKA Abigail Whistler). Might such a spin-off actually just be a 'Nightstalkers' movie?

Premise: Realizing they may never be able to defeat the vampire hunter known as Blade the Dayhunter (Snipes), the vampires who control the infrastructures of human society set Blade up to appear like a psychopathic serial killer, with the FBI soon on his tail, thinking he is some sort of horrible monster. The plan is successful, as Blade's ability to hunt vampires is limited severely, even as they have awakened the granddaddy of them all, Dracula (AKA "Drake") (Purcell), a pure vampire with amazing abilities others do not possess. To take on the threat of this most powerful vampire, Blade accepts the help of a team of human vampire hunters called the Nightstalkers... (Parker Posey plays a vampire)

Old Premise: (8/10/03) The following was long believed to be a possible plot for either the second, and then the third, film. If this does turn out to be the final 'Blade' film, it might just be one of those things that was never meant to be:

"As an apocalyptic event takes place that could shift the control of the planet Earth from the hands of humanity to the claws of vampires, the Daywalker, Blade (Snipes) is the only person who can turn the tide of the crisis against the undead blood suckers and prevent the world from becoming a 'Planet of the Vampires'."

Filming: Production started on September 23rd, 2003 in Vancouver, British Columbia and wrapped up in mid-January, 2004.

Filming Notes: (3/30/03) David S. Goyer told Comics2Film this week that the target production start date is in September, 2003 to make that tentative August, 2004 release. There's a pretty good chance that filming will be done in Prague, Czech Republic, where the second movie was shot. (6/3/03) Filming may start a bit sooner than September, with a production start date this summer, 2003 in Vancouver (rather than Prague) now being considered. (8/9/03) Production is now scheduled to start on September 23rd, 2003 in Vancouver.

Genre: Action, Eye Candy, Horror, Sequel, Superhero, Supernatural

Unofficial Character Fan Site: Hannibal King

Script Review: FilmJerk.com (positive, but spoiler-filled)

Character Descriptions: FilmJerk.com

Rumor Controls: Blade Hype!, Comics2Film, IGN FilmForce

Lengthy Interview with the Director:

Unofficial Location Preview Page: Hollywood North Report (includes images from the sets)

Official Site of the Previous Film: Blade2.com