Will we ever get to see Todd McFarlane’s Spawn? The movie has been in development for years, but despite having had a great cast and talented crew signed up, studios have been reluctant to give it the green light. Their hesitation appears to be primarily due to McFarlane insisting on making this his debut feature as a director, though his inexperience in the medium is working against him. His response to those fears was that he’d minimize that inexperience by surrounding himself with “quality people.”
But it has to be said that things haven’t looked particularly positive of late. It’s a shame, too, because the success of Joker seemed to make studios realize that there was a massive untapped market for R-rated comic book movies with a dark and depressing atmosphere. The signs were pretty positive even as recently as early 2020, but then came the COVID-19 lockdowns and it seemed that Spawn‘s moment might have passed.
But now, Blumhouse horror hit-maker Jason Blum has confirmed that the Spawn train is still rolling down the tracks. In an interview with ComicBook.com, he was asked about the project’s status and said:
“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. … I wanna make the movie so badly … there’s been a seismic event on Spawn.”
All of which sounds pretty damn good. Blumhouse seems like the ideal production partner for Todd McFrlane and Spawn. They have a sparkling history of mid-budget horror successes, a track record of profiting off outside bets, and the hands-off creative atmosphere that McFarlane is looking for to make the movie he wants. Lately, it seems like many in-development fan-favorite productions are getting the green light, so a full Spawn announcement very soon would certainly be welcome.