Todd Mcfarlane announced at Comic-Con that he will get his wish and be directing a new Spawn film. It will be released by Blumhouse Studios of ‘Purge’ and ‘Conjuring’ fame. It is set to be written by Mcfarlane as well. He said that this will be a new take and not a sequel to the previous 1997 film, he also expressed a desire for this to be a darker, more adult version of his character. Which is unsurprising in our post-Deadpool world.
Spawn was first created by Mcfarlane in 1992 during his time with Image Comics, where he was also a founder. Since then, the adventures of Al Simmons have been seen in an Emmy award winning HBO show, video games (including a Soul Caliber) and the previously mentioned live action film starring Michael Jai White, John Leguizamo & Martin Sheen. While not as beloved as other comic adaptations, the film works wonderfully with with the ‘The Pest’ if you want to have double feature to give you a true understanding of why 1997 was the era of “Peak Leguizamo”.
Even though I feel myself growing tired of comic book movies being so serious and dark, an R-rated Spawn makes a ton of sense. These movies are big business and I’m sure Jason Blum would love to work his micro-budget/mega-profit magic on this genre as well. Finally, Mcfarlane being in total control of this project gives me hope for a fun journey into Hell.
