Where this leaves the potential future of the franchise is unknown.  Whether Wesley Snipes has any desire to return for a fourth film is also unknown, but seems highly unlikely due to his experiences on the last film, Blade: Trinity.  This could very well signal the end of Blade in the filmed medium unless that Nightstalkers spin-off film resurfaces in development.  Honestly, there no longer seems to be much reason to launch that Blade: The Series episode guide now.

6.29.06
I much enjoyed the pilot episode of SpikeTV's Blade: The Series, and hope that it does well for the rest of the summer season.  The news coming out today is that you can view that very pilot episode for FREE on iTunes!  Also, every episode will be available for download on ITunes the day following its airing every Wednesday night on the SpikeTV cable network.  Here's the press release:

"BLADE: THE SERIES" -- A FREE DOWNLOAD OF THE TWO-HOUR PREMIERE

For one week, iTunes users can now download a FREE copy of the two-hour premiere of SPIKE TV's first original scripted series: "Blade: The Series" which made its network debut yesterday. The one-hour weekly series’ second episode premieres on Wednesday, July 5 at 10:00 PM ET/PT. New episodes will be available on iTunes the day after their premiere on-air.

The “iTunes Two-Hour Premiere” of “Blade: The Series,” features Kirk “Sticky” Jones in the title role of Marvel’s immortal half-man, half-vampire who uses his superhuman powers and skills to fearlessly battles the demonic creatures of the night in a blood-drenched crusade to prevent their rise over mankind.

“Blade: The Series” maintains the continuity from New Line Television /Marvel Studio’s highly successful movie trilogy, but brings the main character into new storylines and characters. The two-hour premiere opens with Blade (Jones) setting up shop in Detroit, investigating the vampire House of Chthon. Along the way, he forms an uneasy alliance with Krista Starr (Jill Wagner), a former military veteran who becomes entrenched in the world of vampires while investigating the murder of her twin brother.

6.25.06
SuperHero Hype has a final rundown of the new Blade TV Series which premieres this Wednesday night on SpikeTV at 10pm Eastern / 9pm Central.  Might be tough competition since Superman Returns opens that very day, and many comic book fans will have their time divided.  You can view the official website for more info.

Spike TV will premiere Blade: The Series on Wednesday, June 28th at 10pm. The channel recently held a contest won by Jason Bravener from Marshfield, WI who gets a night on the town in Vancouver and a visit to the set of the show. Ten runner-ups received the three feature films on DVD and "Blade" Oakley sunglasses.

In the show, set in Detroit, an ancient evil is growing bolder by the day. The House of Chthon is on the verge of eliminating the final barriers to their supremacy over mankind, and only the Daywalker can stop them. Half human, half immortal. His only allies are a master weaponsmith and a woman obsessed with revenge against Chthon. And he will top at nothing to win his war, because he is the ultimate vampire hunter. Blade.

Blade: The Series stars Kirk "Sticky" Jones, Jill Wagner, Neil Jackson, Nelson Lee and Jessica Gower.

5.14.06
IGN has five video featurettes online for the new Blade TV series as well as the series trailer.  The featurettes have interviews with producer David Goyer and much of the cast.  The series premiere has Blade (Kirk "Sticky" Jones) setting up shop in Detroit and investigating the vampire house of Chthon. Along the way he forms an uneasy alliance with Krista Starr (Jill Wagner), a military veteran who becomes entrenched into the world of vampires while investigating the murder of her twin brother.  Kirk Jones stars as Blade the half-man, half-vampire warrior devout to saving the human race from vampires and other demonic forces.  Whether Jones has gained the martial arts expertise to do Wesley Snipes' feature film version justice is yet to be known.

3.22.06
Dark Horizons gave a thorough rundown on the new series produced by New Line Television and to be aired on the SpikeTV cable network this summer.  Apparently, the two-hour telemovie was impressive enough to warrant the production of eleven one-hour episodes.  Hell, what else are you gonna watch on television this summer?

Production on Spike TV's first original scripted offering "Blade: The Series" has begun this week in Vancouver, Canada. New Line Television will produce 11, one-hour episodes of the weekly action-adventure series which premieres on Spike TV starting Wednesday, July, 5, following the previously announced two-hour kick-off episode that premieres on June 28.

Based on the Marvel Super Hero of the same name, "Blade: The Series" stars Kirk "Sticky" Jones ("Over There") as the title character who is half-man, half-vampire and employs his extraordinary powers in a crusade to save mankind from the demonic creatures who walk the night.

Spike TV's two-hour series premiere opens with Blade (Jones) setting up shop in Detroit, investigating the vampire house of Chthon.  Along the way he forms an uneasy alliance with Krista Starr (Jill Wagner), a former military veteran who becomes entrenched in the world of vampires while investigating the murder of her twin brother.

The series also features Neil Jackson ("Stargate SG-1"), Nelson Lee ("Traffic," the TV mini-series) and Jessica Gower ("Blurred").

Acclaimed screenwriter and executive producer David S. Goyer ("Blade" trilogy and "Batman Begins") and popular comic book writer Geoff Johns who both worked on the "Blade" pilot, have also signed on for the series production.

Bill McGoldrick, Vice President, Original Programming and Lisa Ullmann, Director of Original Programming, are executives responsible for production at Spike TV. Avi Arad, Chairman and CEO of Marvel Studios and Ari Arad, Executive Vice President, Marvel Studios; David Goyer; David Simkins (insert credits); Jim Rosenthal and Jon Kroll of New Line Television will serve as executive producers.

2.26.06
FH has failed to cover the development and production of the Blade TV series that will air on the SpikeTV cable network.  Kirk "Sticky Fingaz" Jones picks up the role that Wesley Snipes shined with in three films based on the Marvel Comics character.  Publicity photos and screenshots will be coming soon, but for now, check out the trailer at UGO for the series which premieres this June.

4.13.05
If there actually was a soul out there who enjoyed Blade:Trinity, then you'll probably be rather excited about  Drake Faux-Bronze Maquette.  This is the full-on creature version of the pathetic and flatly executed villian of the film as portrayed by musclehead Dominic Purcell.  The design is indeed wicked, and so, maybe that's enough justification for purchasing it. You can check it out by clicking the vertical banner to the left.  While you're there, you can peruse Sideshow's other Marvel Comics Collectibles from the Fantastic Four to X-Men to the Punisher and more to come down the pike soon.

2.13.05
Fangoria has scored the first details on the DVD release of Blade: Trinity.  Oddly enough, there's an unrated edition DVD which also includes the theatrical cut, but New Line is also releasing the theatrical edition alone but with all the same features (sans audio commentary).  Makes no sense to me to release two different editions when the unrated edition contains everything in one package with both cuts of the film.  Oh well, I'll never understand the need to release half a dozen versions of one movie on DVD - damn greedy bastards.  Though, let me stated that an extra 10 minutes of footage isn't gonna redeem this greatly disappointing entry in a franchise which had two previous films which kicked a lot of genuine ass.  You can check out the terrible looking DVD cover art via the following link.
BLADE3_DVD.JPG

BLADE: TRINITY will be coming to DVD as an extended, unrated Platinum Series double-disc release from New Line Home Entertainment on April 26, FANGORIA has learned. The 124-minute unrated disc and 114-minute R-rated theatrical version will both be dripping with special features (see below).

In addition, a collectible, all-new limited-edition Marvel comic book—created specifically for the DVD release—will come with both the unrated and R-rated editions of BLADE: TRINITY while supplies last. The bonus comic, BLADE: NIGHTSTALKING, reveals the never-before-seen backstory of Abigail Whistler as she meets her father for the first time and rescues Hannibal King from the vampires. Some 12,500 copies of this 28-page insert will feature preprinted artist signatures from award-winning writer Jimmy Palmiotti, writer Justin Gray and penciler Amanda Conner. Both DVD sets will retail for $29.95; complete specs are as follows:

Unrated DVD: Disc One:
· Widescreen version of the unrated film with 10 minutes of added footage
· Widescreen version of the R-rated film
· Two commentaries with writer/director David Goyer, Jessica Biel, Ryan Reynolds, producer and crew
· 5.1 and DTS 6.1 Surround soundtracks
· English subtitles and closed captions, plus Spanish subtitles

R-Rated DVD: Disc One:
· Widescreen and fullscreen versions of the R-rated film
· 5.1 and Stereo Surround soundtracks
· English subtitles and closed captions, plus Spanish subtitles

Disc Two—Both Versions:
· 16-part behind-the-scenes documentary Daywalkers, Nightstalkers & Familiars: Inside the World of BLADE: TRINITY
· Blooper reel
· Alternate ending
· Goyer on Goyer: The Writer Interviews the Director featurette
· Galleries: VFX Progression and Weapons
· Theatrical Trailer

1.7.05
Well, "Blade: Trinity" has been out for nearly a month now, it's long dropped out of the top ten, and domestically, fell short of profit.  Though, with the overseas grosses in,profit may have been reached, and even if it doesn't do well on home video, it'll still bring in enough to bring in profit.  Though, the underwhelming reaction from fans, and the frightening number of bad reviews have proven one thing for near certainty - this franchise is dead.  On top of that, one New Line Cinema exec - Toby Emmerich (who, mind you, had nothing to do with this film) recently stated some very unsettling words, courtesy of Creature Corner.

The Corner dropped a line to New Line Cinema’s Toby Emmerich and asked him about the status of the Nightstalkers film as well as the status, this week’s status, of Freddy Vs. Jason 2 . "There are no plans for another Freddy Vs. Jason film right now," says Emmerich who wrote the excellent 2000 time-travel thriller Frequency. "There are no plans right now for a Nightstalkers film until I see how well Blade: Trinity does on video." 

I didn't yet write a review of this film, but I've spoken my mind on it at other forums.  Simply put, this was just a poorly conceived and poorly executed film.  It becomes very obvious that David Goyer's work is not exceptional on its own, and requires the revisions of another party (i.e. the director) to make it exceptional.  Though, he did not have the crutch of someone else being in the director's chair this time as this was Goyer's directorial debut, and it was essentially a failure.  I found the film to be rather uninteresting, badly written, badly orchestrated, poorly directed, filled with unimpressive action sequences, poorly developed characters, and a great deal of poor casting choices.  Dominic Purcell was terrible as the main villian, Triple H was the worst henchman of the franchise (you can't top Ron Perlman from "Blade II"), Parker Posey was bland, Ryan Reynolds was not one bit funny, not even for a nanosecond, Jessica Beil really didn't add much or detract much from the film, and Snipes was just sleepwalking through the film.  Snipes knew the script was bad, and the film would turn out poorly, that much has been documented by various sources.  He would really like to do one more entry in this franchise only to make certain that "Trinity" isn't the sorry conclusion to it, but it's doubtful that it will happen.  I don't believe Goyer's agent will get many phone calls for his client about directing other movies.  I was convinced that this movie would kick ass, but it just sucked ass.  Also, if New Line isn't jumping on a sequel to a true blockbuster which lived up to almost everyone's expectations such as "Freddy vs. Jason," do you really think they'll jump on a sequel or spin-off to a film that just barely snagged a profit at the box office and fell short of every expectation?

11.15.04
Freeze Dried Movies posted up 15 new images from the film recently including shots of the muscle bound Dracula.  AICN has two early reviews online, and they're mixed ones.  Take them for what you will.  Also, Bloody-Disgusting has a very positive review that rates the film a 4/5!
1ST AICN REVIEW • 2ND AICN REVIEW

10.21.04
It seems an extended version of the teaser trailer has hit online at WWE.com, and it features a whole DAMN lot of Triple H in it!  Obviously, this is a special trailer for the WWE to promote their World Heavyweight Champion in the upcoming movie, due out December 8th.  It certainly seems like Triple H (real name Paul Michael Levesque) shares a generous amount of screen time with Wesley Snipes as well.  This trailer is currently only available in Windows Media Video format.  Thanks to 'igod' over at fridayThe13thForum.com for the heads up!

10.14.04
Today, JoBlo has scooped up three new theatrical banners for the film - each one featuring Wesley Snipes, Jessica Biel, and Ryan Reynolds separeately.  Hit the links below or visit the Multimedia Archive to view them.
BLADE3_BANNER1.JPG • BLADE3_BANNER2.JPG • BLADE3_BANNER3.JPG

10.8.04
The CHARACTER PROFILES section has been launched with profiles on Blade, Abigail Whistler, and Hannibal King.  The film opens exactly two months from today!

9.23.04
The new poster, featuring Snipes, Biel, and Reynolds, has surfaced at the official site, but you can view it via the link below.  Also, Bloody-Disgusting and Variety report that the film's release date has been pushed up by two days to Wednesday December 8th.  Probably a wise move since OCEAN'S TWELVE, the sequel to the blockbuster remake of OCEAN'S ELEVEN, opens the same weekend.
BLADE3_POSTER2.JPG

9.20.04
The official trailer is now available to the public through the official site in QuickTime and Windows Media in both hi & low bandwidth versions.  The trailer is already in theatres as I saw it before the special Friday night sneak preview of "SHAUN OF THE DEAD" (which was absolutely GREAT).

UPDATE #2: The theatrical trailer, like the teaser, is now online here at FOREVER HORROR in the Multimedia Archive.  It's the high resolution QuickTime version.  Also, I will begin putting the character profiles together this week.  Hopefully, with the release of the new trailer, more promotional stills and posters will begin appearing in the coming weeks.

9.16.04
The full-length theatrical trailer is coming soon.  Those who have signed up at the official site for email updates can already get the advanced preview of the trailer, and it's rather good.  It has a number of similarities to the teaser, but there's no footage from the previous films used and the plot and action are expanded on.  It was not possible for me to save the QuickTime file to my harddrive, or else, I'd have it ready for you all.  So, until then, you can check out the other updates at BladeTrinity.com including hi-res QuickTime and Windows Media versions of the Maxim Exclusive clip featuring Jessica Biel kicking some ass.  No word on when this new trailer will debut in theatres or be publically available online.  Just keep posted here, to the official site, and Apple.com until then.

Also, on November 9th, New Line Home Entertainment is going to release a DVD 2-pack of BLADE & BLADE II.  There will be a bonus disc included in the set with some multimedia promotional items for BLADE: TRINITY.  BLADE will be the same DVD that has always been available (most likely in a keepcase, not a snapper), but BLADE II will be the single disc release, not the original 2-Disc Platinum Series release.  You can read some more about this at MovieWeb.

8.18.04
The third installment in the highly successful action / horror franchise, born of screenwriter David Goyer's major revamping of a forgotten, campy, blackploitation Marvel horror hero of the 1970's, is currently in post-production.  Originally, the film was scheduled for an August 13th, 2004 release date, but due to close competition with "ALIEN vs. PREDATOR" and the desire to extend post-production to make the film the best that it could be, its release date was delayed until December 10th, 2004.

After the first test screening, Latino Review reported that scheduled some re-shoots for June 17th - June 21st.  Recently, writer / producer / director David Goyer (who has been the screenwriter of all three films) talked at length with AICN about, among other things, multiple and alternate endings along with the potential future sequels or spin-offs from the BLADE franchise.  Apparently, everyone involved really wants to get "BLADE: TRINITY" just right.  They want to tweak so much to make it the best and most satisfying film possible.  Goyer also speaks about his other current projects including "BATMAN BEGINS."

Bloody Disgusting posted a highly positive review this past Saturday from a test screening in Los Angeles, but it's not without its negative marks.  Though, with the multiple alternate endings, and another four months before release, anything can change at any time.

Two weeks ago, Sci Fi Wire ran a behind-the-scenes story about how Jessica Biel wrecked an $300,000 camera in a bow-and-arrow stunt.  Director David Goyer wanted a genuine shot of one of Abigail Whistler's arrows soaring straight towards the camera, but Biel's archery training seemed to have been a little too effective as she hit a seemingly impossible target.  Unfortunately, she hit the wrong target....

"We've got this camera aimed at her," he said. "She had learned how to shoot the arrow very well. She was 30 or 40 feet away, but she was also up in the air three stories. And all the crew were behind safety [glass]. The only thing that was uncovered was literally a 2-inch-by-2-inch thing right in front of the lens. We said, 'Aim for the camera!' And BAM! Right down the lens, into the housing and into the camera. Destroyed a $300,000 camera. We caught it on film, and we're going to put it on the DVD."

"Are you?" Biel said. "Oh, God."

"It's in slow motion," Goyer said. "She shoots, looks badass and everything like that. There's this pause, and then she's like, 'YEAAAAH!' It was just right in the lens! It embedded like 8 inches."

Maxim Online posted an exclusive clip recently featuring Jessica Biel in an impressive action sequence.  The Movie Box also posted an MTV exclusive clip featuring Wesley Snipes, Ryan Reynolds, and Jessica Biel in another action sequence.  Though, it is not a final cut of the scene, and more action and a different soundtrack is quite probable.

Former multi-time WWE World Heavweight Champion, Triple H, has a supporting part in this film as vampire Jarko Grimwood, and SuperHero Hype has a very impressive shot of the vamped-out six foot, four inch tall 260 pounder.  Unfortunately, Paul Michael Levesque (Triple H) spoiled the fate of his character to Muscle & Fitness magazine, and SuperHero Hype reposted the interview.