The new Spawn movie has been discussed for a long, long time. Image Comics co-founder and creator of the character Todd McFarlane signed a deal with Blumhouse Productions eight years ago in 2017 to produce the project. Originally, McFarlane planned to write and direct the adaptation himself. Yet, things have changed. So, who is going to wind up directing it? That is the big question, which was recently addressed by McFarlane.
In an interview with ComicBook.com during this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, McFarlane provided an update on the long-gestating movie. He even launched McFarlane Films in 2021 to help make it happen. Without naming names, the comic book legend revealed that progress is being made. “What I will say is that we are still moving along,” McFarlane teased. “I went and met with a director, we want to sign them, they gave me the numbers last week, we’ve given it to them, hopefully, he signs on.”
That’s all very mysterious. Last we heard, Matt Mixon, Malcolm Spellman (Captain America: Brave New World) and Scott Silver (Joker) were writing the movie, which was going under the title of King Spawn. That title was part of the expansive Spawn Universe, which was launched in 2021. Speaking further, McFarlane made it clear we probably won’t hear who this mystery director is until everything is buttoned up.
“I don’t think we’ll announce when he signs on. I think what we’ll do is we’ll announce when we have the script and we’ve got the buyer. Instead of doing what I’ve done before, every time we hire somebody, I announce it, is to just go, ‘It sold with this director, writer, these people attached as actors, boom, boom, boom, this is what we’re gonna make,’ that would be it.
But the contract went out, literally, last week. I’m here to tell you it’s an A[-list] director, from my perspective. I go, ‘Wow,’ we keep getting lucky with Spawn. The people who are excited about it are people that are in the top tier, from my perspective, so it’s like, ‘Wow. Okay, cool.’ So we’ll see.”
Blumhouse is still on board too with McFarlane saying, “If you talk to Jason [Blum], him and his crew are pushing it too, right? They want this thing to happen as much as I do.” Blumhouse is known for horror, which makes it a good fit. McFarlane has described spawn as “not a superhero movie,” while comparing it to Jaws. As for the King Spawn title, that isn’t set in stone either.
“It’s probably just a working title. I think it’s cool. It’s strong. The thing is, is that it was a way for us to say that we’re not just gonna emulate the past and he felt by just calling it Spawn plain old Spawn that it would sort of go, oh, this is just a reboot and, and repeat.”
The first Spawn movie was released in 1997 by New Line Cinema. It wasn’t a huge commercial success and McFarlane has voiced his displeasure with it over the years. As such, he wishes to maintain a certain level of creative control over this new iteration. As of right now, no cast has been confirmed, but Jamie Foxx and Jeremy Renner were, at one point, attached.
The new Spawn movie doesn’t currently have a release date, but stay tuned.
What do you think? Are you excited about the movie? Who would you like to see in the director’s chair? Join the conversation over on Facebook or Twitter!
