Back in the early 2000s, the genre film scene had two successful R-rated film franchises involving vampires, lots of black leather or latex, and a whole bunch of blue filter – the Wesley Snipes-led “Blade” and the Kate Beckinsale-led “Underworld”.
Both franchises are done and dusted now, though both its stars are still working with new films out this year. Beckinsale has the action-revenge thriller “Jolt” about to hit and during promotional rounds for that, she revealed a potential crossover was floated at one point.
Talking to Variety, she says Marvel’s upcoming reboot effectively squashed the idea: “I really wanted them to do an Underworld-Blade mashup. What a duo that would be. I would definitely do that, but I think they just wanted to reboot Blade as Blade so they didn’t go for it.”
Beckinsale played the vampire assassin Selene from 2003 to 2016 and says she’ll happily slip on the black skintight pants again if required: “I know exactly where they are. You never know who you want to impress.”
“Blade” meanwhile is being rebooted as part of the MCU with Mahershala Ali as the daywalker. Bassam Tariq was hired this week to direct.