Blade (1998 film)

Blade
Blade
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Stephen Norrington
Written by	David S. Goyer
Based on	Blade; by Marv Wolfman; Gene Colan;
Produced by	Peter Frankfurt; Wesley Snipes; Robert Engelman;
Starring	Wesley Snipes; Stephen Dorff; Kris Kristofferson; N'Bushe Wright; Donal Logue;
Cinematography	Theo van de Sande
Edited by	Paul Rubell
Music by	Mark Isham
Production; companies	New Line Cinema; Marvel Enterprises; Amen Ra Films; Imaginary Forces;
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date	August 21, 1998;
Running time	120 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$45 million
Box office	$131.2 million

Blade is a 1998 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character. The first installment in the Blade franchise, it was directed by Stephen Norrington and written by David S. Goyer. Wesley Snipes stars as Blade, a human with vampire strengths but not their weaknesses, who battles other vampires. The supporting cast includes Stephen Dorff, Kris Kristofferson and N'Bushe Wright.

Blade was released in the United States on August 21, 1998, and was a commercial success, grossing $131 million on a budget of $45 million. It is also hailed as one of Snipes's signature roles.

Blade was noted as a dark superhero film for its time, as well as being Marvel's first successful film. It was followed by two sequels, Blade II (2002) and Blade: Trinity (2004). Snipes reprised his role as Blade in the 2024 film Deadpool & Wolverine.