A new SPAWN movie adaptation was announced back in 2017 with Blumhouse Productions leading the charge on getting the film made. Although news has been a bit scarce lately on the project, head of all things Blumhouse, Jason Blum, is assuring fans that SPAWN is still very much alive and in active development.
While speaking with "ComicBook.com", Jason Blum revealed there is “an enormous amount of activity” on SPAWN in relation to the film’s development:
"I'm glad you asked. There has been an enormous amount of activity on Spawn. No new news that I'm going to reveal here, I'm sorry to tell you, but the title 'Spawn,' I've been uttering that word a lot in the last two or three weeks and we'll have more news to come. But, suffice it to say, it is a very active development.
Given the current state of affairs with the pandemic and quarantine, Blum was asked if maybe he was talking to himself about SPAWN and Blum assured that the talks about the film were not a part of manic self-isolation and teased a “seismic event” on the project:
"I wanna make the movie so badly, I wouldn't put that past myself, and it's an excellent question, but in this case, I've actually been talking to other people about it, but there's been a seismic event on Spawn."
Jason Blum doesn't seem like the type of person to offer up false promises on his projects so if there is significant movement on SPAWN, I'm inclined to believe him. The last person to provide us with any news on film was "Spawn" creator himself, Todd McFarlane, who confirmed that Jamie Foxx was still attached to star, but that the project was in a transitional period as someone attached to the project was no longer attached:
"About a month ago, I had a big fish. I just about got him on deck, right? It was the one that some people misheard and said I lost Jamie, it was like no an addition, an addition. But we lost him and those are always frustrating because whenever you got the fish out of the water, pull them up on deck and the line breaks. We got an offer out to, I think, a bigger fish. So, there weren't too many bigger than the first guy, but anyway, we'll see. If I could've got the last guy, it would've been a home run. If I can get this guy, it will be a grand slam. This one will blow up the Internet. So, we'll see. I don't know. In normal circumstances, usually, when you make an offer, there's usually a one or two-week sort of timeframe before you move on. But given that everything stopped in Hollywood, probably in the grace period we'll be relaxed. I think it would be like I said, I'm going to only have to go down after this if I lose these two big whales. But fingers crossed on this one. So, again, everybody's saying the right things for right now, but until you get a firm 'yes' it's always a 'no' to me."
"Spawn" is a comic created by McFarlane back in 1992 that was first published by Image Comics. The comic, which became the longest-running creator-owned comic book series in October of 2019, received the film treatment before in 1997. Directed by Mark A.Z. Dippé, the film starred Michael Jai White as the title character and John Leguizamo and it was celebrated for being one of the first solo superhero movies featuring an African-American actor. While the film did technically pull in a profit with a global gross of $87.8 million on a $40 million budget, the film was harshly criticized by critics and fans alike. In the years since its release, the film has developed a bit of a cult following but there has always been the feeling that the character could've received a better film adaptation and that seems to be what they're aiming for with the new movie.
What do YOU want to see from the new SPAWN? What news do YOU think we will be hearing soon?