Of all the comic book characters not to have been a product of either DC or Marvel, Spawn has undoubtedly emerged as one of the most popular around, no doubt helping put Image on the map back in the day. Not only that, but the anti-hero has headlined an animated series, and helped jump-start Todd McFarlane’s line of action figures that have also put out highly detailed toys for everything from The Matrix to Metal Gear Solid and even professional athletes.
There was also the eponymous movie that saw release in 1997, but a lot of fans choose not to talk about it. Michael Jai White was a great fit for the character and there were good intentions behind the project, sure, but the final product ultimately missed the mark, with some suspect visual effects and campiness not helping matters at all.
That said, we’ve been primed for some time to see this bad boy go in front of cameras. With big names such as Jamie Foxx and Jeremy Renner being attached to the project, one would think production would get rolling quickly. Unfortunately, the word has been mum for too long.
Believe it or not, though, the massive box office success amassed by Joker may wind up being credited for renewed interest in Spawn over in Tinseltown. Here’s what McFarlane told the Phoenix New Times in a recent interview:
“We keep pushing for it. It’s interesting cause the Marvel movies, the MCU, has been doing quite well and those are PG-13 movies. I keep trying to convince people that doing a dark, serious comic book movie will work. There’s been so much success with these PG-13 movies that there’s a resistance to them in Hollywood.
“But since Joker came out, it proves what I’ve been saying for over two years to any executives I can talk to. Serious dark comic books can work. R-movies can succeed. So now, all of a sudden, I’ve been getting a lot of phone calls saying, ‘Todd, we need to talk to you about that R-rated dark thing you wanted to do.’ So Joker did me a favor.”
Hey, if it takes Joker to get it done, then I guess we should take it. Even though there’s much money to be made by the PG-13 stuff, we must not forget how many fantastic R-rated comic book movies have been made over the years. Immediately, the likes of Blade, Watchmen and V For Vendetta spring to mind. On top of that, there have also been direct-to-video animated features like Batman: Gotham by Gaslight and Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay, neither of which were afraid to take off the gloves.
As always, we’ll keep you posted if and when more Spawn news hits the web. Let’s just hope we aren’t still having this same conversation one year from now, as that would be downright criminal.
