Blacula will officially get to see the light of day again (pun intended).
A new reboot of Blacula, the 1972 classic film, is in development at MGM. The film will be a modern-day reimagining of the classic flick which starred William Marshall as Blacula.
The original Blacula revolves around Mamuwalde, an African prince who Dracula turns into a vampire and imprisons him in a coffin. Two centuries later, Mamuwalde, né Blacula, wakes up and begins wreaking havoc in 1970s LA.
The reboot will pick up where the original story left off, after the 1973 sequel “Scream Blacula Scream,” and will be set in a metropolitan city post-coronavirus pandemic.
Reported exclusively by Variety, MGM, Bron and Hidden Empire Film Group’s Deon and Roxanne Avent Taylor are teaming up for a reboot of the blaxploitation horror classic.
A description of Blacula teases an update to the classic story, as the film will follow the vampire looking for vengeance. Blacula awakens after being entombed for 200 years. As the series is set in post-covid era, we’ll get to see how Dracula catches up on two decades of FOMO.
Blace will also avenge the death of his ancestors and of those responsible for robbing his people of their work, culture, and heritage as they appropriated it for profit. It would be interesting to see how the audience receives this modernized version of a classic film.
Deon Taylor, founder of Hidden Empire Film Group, will direct the new project based on a script co-written with Micah Ranum. Roxanne Avent Taylor is producing the movie on behalf of Hidden Empire Film Group.
Deon Taylor said in a statement,
“Blacula is arguably one of the most prestigious Black franchises and so important to the culture as it birthed a groundswell of Blaxploitation-horror films, which changed the game for how our people were seen on the big screen.
Growing up in Gary, IN, I loved watching ‘Blacula’ and was so proud that William Marshall was a fellow Gary native. It’s mind-blowing that this franchise never got the energy or appreciation that other genre films received over the years, but this reboot is about to change all that.”
Deon Taylor
Blaxploitation films made mainly in the early to mid-1970s that featured Black actors in a transparent effort to appeal to Black urban audiences. Junius Griffin, then president of the Beverly Hills chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), is sometimes credited with inventing the term.
Blacula was the first entry in the horror genre of Blaxploitation films. As such films catered primarily to a black audience and mostly had a black cast, the reboot would provide an even bigger representation for POC. A refreshing take on the classic tale would have a better resonance with today’s society; hopefully highlighting issues like racism and how it has shifted in modern times.
MGM originally acquired the 1972 film’s rights through its purchase of Orion Pictures. Blacula (1972) was one of the highest-grossing films of the year. Despite receiving mixed reviews, the film started a wave of blaxploitation films that were inspired by it.
About Blacula
Blacula, a new reboot of the 1972 classic film, is in development at MGM. The film will be a modern-day reimagining of the classic blaxploitation horror film. Deon Taylor will direct the new project based on a script co-written with Micah Ranum. Roxanne Avent Taylor and Aaron L. Gilbert will produce the film.
The reboot will pick up where the original story left off, after the 1973 sequel “Scream Blacula Scream,” and will be set in a metropolitan city post-coronavirus pandemic.
Blacula is an ancient African prince who is cursed by Dracula after he fails to agree to end the slave trade. Blacula is entombed and awakens 200 years later, ready to avenge the death of his ancestors and of those responsible for robbing his people of their work, culture, and heritage as they appropriated it for profit.
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