There was once a time when Wesley Snipes was one of the biggest action stars in Hollywood. As the man behind the Blade trilogy, the actor played his part in helping to build the comic book focused box office that we live in today. Since then, however, the actor has flown under the radar, in large part due to being taken out of the game due to a minor misunderstanding with the IRS. Since then, the actor has been looking for a comeback and now he hopes he’s found it by inking a multi-picture deal between his own production company and another haven of action, the WWE.
Today the movie arm of the sports entertainment brand, WWE Studios announced via press release that they’ve entered into a deal with Wesley Snipes’ Maandi Media DMM to produce at least two films. The first movie, Temple, will star Snipes, along with Anne Heche and former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, formerly Tyler Black, real name Colby Lopez, and is currently in production. A second, unnamed film is also part of the deal and is expected to go into production later this year.
While WWE Studios isn’t exactly the world’s premier production company, over the last few years they have been able to slowly build a fairly solid brand. At first, the company was focused on theatrical action features starring WWE talent, but after many of those resulted in less than stellar box office results, the company has branched out into different types of movies and has often moved their own "sports entertainers" into supporting roles, if they don’t forgo them entirely. Movie’s like Halle Berry’s The Call or horror title Oculus starring Karen Gillan, have been able to put up solid, if not amazing, box office numbers and with their microscopic budgets, they’ve been insanely profitable. It’s likely Temple will try to follow this formula.
According to the official synopsis, Temple will follow a team of trained operatives who find themselves trapped inside an isolated military compound and begin to experience strange phenomena after its artificial intelligence is shut down. This return to action movies comes after Wesley Snipes attempted to find new life on television. His action-drama The Player was over nearly before it began. Since then his only role has been a part in Spike Lee’s Chi-raq. There have been rumblings about a return to the Blade franchise as well, though the most recent news has been that any future films would not star Snipes character.
So, one way or another Wesley Snipes is back. Is this the action star you’ve been waiting for? Alternatively, the best news coming out of this story is that if Seth Rollins is healthy enough to make a movie, hopefully he’ll be returning to WWE TV as soon as he’s done filming.
