It's been a long, hard road out of production hell for Todd McFarlane's planned SPAWN reboot, but a new update from the iconic creator himself suggests that the mature-rated superhero film is forthcoming and in good hands. According to McFarlane, the project has been passed to another writer-director for a bit of polish before the new script is presented to people in Hollywood who can make it all come to life on the big screen.
Recently while speaking with the fine folk over at Comicbook.com, McFarlane told the outlet that the reason for SPAWN's delay stems from creative disagreements over its script, saying “everyone has a slightly different version of [the movie] in their head.” In addition to offering an update on the screenplay, McFarlane also stressed that there's "money on the sidelines" for SPAWN over at Blumhouse, the production house now in charge of presenting the beloved character's next theatrical outing. Moreover, McFarlane also said that it's now a matter of "when" the film reaches theaters, not "if."
“Right now it’s being polished by another writer-director from the script that we handed him. He’s supposed to be done with it here in a few weeks, and then once we sort of go back and forth and tighten it up a little bit, then we’re going into Hollywood and we’re gonna get a yes or no,” McFarlane told BeTerrific. “Here’s what I can tell you: I have people with money on the sidelines. There are people that are gonna help me make this movie. The question is, do we go into Hollywood, make a deal with Hollywood, go and make the production, and then come back? Or do I take the outside money, go make it, and then come back to Hollywood?”
“Either way, the movie’s coming,” McFarlane elaborated. “It’s not an ‘if,’ it’s a ‘when.’ I just think that it would be better for the process if we could attach one of the studios in advance, and then go put it out. Because then we’d be able to make an announcement of the release date, and a couple things that matter to the fans, knowing that it’s coming instead of making it and trying to get the release date later.”
When asked about the difficult task of attaching actors to a project that has yet to find its footing, McFarlane confessed, “Yes. And the reason is because their lawyers and agents and stuff will say there’s a little bit of an unknown, so we don’t know if they’re gonna get a deal, if they do get a deal, how many theaters they’re gonna get it released in, what kind of advertising campaign, blah blah blah.”
“They like the sure thing,” he added. “So there’s leverage on the studio side, because they know that it may retain some of the talent that is either on or could come onto it.”
With so many comic book properties being optioned for either film or television, I find it interesting that SPAWN – a well-known comics property since the character's Image Comics launch in May of 1992 – is having trouble getting off the ground. Could it be that Spawn's salad days are long since passed, and that the character's resurrection is seen as more or a risk than a guaranteed money-maker? Truth be told, I can't recall the last time that Spawn was a part of any comics-related conversation. That being said, perhaps now is the perfect time for the character to make his dark return. After all, comic fans love their dark universes up on the big screen, and I feel as if today's effects could lend quite well to making an over-the-top Spawn feature that would feel right at home alongside other, more grittier takes on the superhero film genre.