The Vampire Brawler Marvel Didn't Make, and the Indian Film That Steps In

Variety's critic thinks Kevin Feige made a rare misstep: Marvel's architect, in this telling, “dropped the bag” by not making a new “Blade.” The consolation, per the same review, is “Half,” directed by Indian auteur Samjad — a film that will bring joy to fans of the battle-ready half-vampire Wesley Snipes popularized. The idea worth chewing on is not a scorecard of Feige's slate decisions but the claim that a fandom can be served from outside the studio system that created it: Marvel let the character sit, and a genre film from India turns up to fill the slot. Whether “Half” satisfies that appetite is a review question, not a scheduling one.