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Research dossier · Arts & Letters

Blade (1998 film)

Film by Stephen Norrington

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 26, 2026
Entity authoritySource title only
Source-derived summary

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.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Blade (1998 film)” as film by Stephen Norrington. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Blade, film and Film.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1998—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Blade, film and Film providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Blade (1998 film)”, the useful work is to connect “film by Stephen Norrington” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 26, 2026. The first chronological checks are 1998.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Blade (1998 film)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Blade (1998 film) primary sources, Blade (1998 film) archive and Blade research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Blade (1998 film)”?
  2. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Blade (1998 film)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.