The first Blade movie was a surprise hit for New Line, and helped reinvigorate interest in comic book movies in general. Needless to say, the franchise continued with Blade II, directed by Guillermo del Toro, which was seen by many as being superior to the first. And then the franchise hit a brick wall with Blade: Trinity, a terrible film that was panned by everyone and their mother (although it still earned $128 million worldwide). There had been talk at one point of doing a Blade spin-off called Night Stalkers, but it was apparently put on hold as a result. Has the Blade franchise run its course?

This week there comes a report that we may be seeing more Blade after all. According to Bloody Disgusting, Marvel is considering doing a reboot of the franchise, although New Line will probably not be involved. It is clearly just a rumour at this point, but I have to say, I wouldn’t be surprised if there is some truth to this. “Reboot” seems to be the new buzz word in Hollywood lately; if a franchise gets away from you, don’t sweat it… just reboot it! Christopher Nolan successfully breathed new life into the Batman series with Batman Begins, and The Incredible Hulk is picking up the pieces from Ang Lee’s failed Hulk film. Both quality and public interest seem to decline after 3 installments in a series anyway, and usually the cast is only contractually obligated to do a trilogy. If they really believe that the Blade franchise has more to offer, this is probably the way they’d go. The question is, do people actually want more Blade? The short-lived TV series would seem to indicate that no, they don’t, but I suppose maybe it just means they don’t want a crappy TV version of Blade. What do you think, are vampires back in vogue again? And if Wesley Snipes doesn’t return, who would you like to see play Blade?