Blumhouse have one of the best track records in the industry when it comes to sustained commercial success, with the company’s model of churning out low-budget horror movies resulting in huge box office wins, especially when you consider the profit margins involved. However, it’ll be interesting to see if the formula will translate to the comic book genre when the long-awaited Spawn reboot finally arrives.
Similar to how The Crow, another proposed reboot of one of the genre’s 1990s cult favorites, has remained stuck in development hell with a rotating series of directors and stars signing on at various points over the years, the latest version of Spawn has been in the works for over a decade at this point.
Creator Todd McFarlane is set to both write and direct the movie, which will reportedly be a lot more faithful to the source material than the 1997 effort, which was largely panned by critics. Despite recent rumors to the contrary, Jamie Foxx is still set to play the lead role that he’s been attached to in some form since the summer of 2013, with Jeremy Renner the only other cast member announced so far.
And now, in a recent interview, McFarlane has teased that there’s some huge news coming down the pipeline. While he wouldn’t go into specifics, it certainly sounds like it might be a game-changer for Spawn.
“We are in the process of adding, I think, not only a home run but potentially a grand slam to our movie. I’m not saying that as a teaser. I’m saying that legitimately. It’s happening. It’s happening right now. It’s just that the business of Hollywood has its sort of ebb and fllow. They seem to be a little bit shy about wanting to be public about all of this. So, all I can say is that the movie is going full-steam ahead. I know I’ve said it before. I’m telling you, it’s going full-steam ahead in terms of news that hopefully you and I will be able to break fairly soon.”
Development has been moving so slowly that Jason Blum had to recently confirm that Spawn was still in the works, and with R-rated comic book adaptations now officially big business at the box office, it’s definitely the ideal time for things to start gaining some real momentum so that it manages to hit theaters when audiences are more willing to embrace adult-orientated superhero fare than ever before.
