Blade and Its Sequels Move to Peacock After 1998 Hit

Marvel’s first live-action attempt, Howard the Duck (1986), was a critical and commercial flop. Twelve years later the studio scored its first successful live-action picture with Blade, and that film has now found a new streaming home. Released August 21, 1998, Blade was a techno-horror starring Wesley Snipes and based on a character introduced in The Tomb of Dracula #10.

Directed by Stephen Norrington and also featuring Stephen Dorff, Kris Kristofferson and N'Bushe Wright, the film was made for $45 million and went on to gross $131 million. The movie stood out because it didn’t feel like a traditional comic-book picture. It played like a cross between a Hong Kong martial-arts film and a sci-fi techno-thriller, leaned into its R-rating with blood and gore, and showcased Snipes’s martial arts skills, stoic presence and well-timed humor.

One of the film’s most often-quoted lines is, "Some motherf***ers are always trying to ice skate uphill." Now, 28 years after its premiere, Blade and its two sequels head to Peacock on April 1.

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