Comic-Con 2017 | Blumhouse and Todd MacFarlane Will Reboot ‘Spawn’

If you’re anything like us, you have completely lost track of how many times Todd MacFarlane, the creator of Spawn, has said that he’s seriously working on a new movie version, and that it’ll be lower budgeted and totally dark and this time he really means it.

But it turns out that, this time, he really DOES mean it. Todd MacFarlane announced at Comic-Con 2017 today that not only is the Spawn reboot really happening, but it will also be produced by Blumhouse, the studio behind successful low-budget horror thrillers like Get OutThe Purge and Sinister. Todd MacFarlane signed the deal with the studio just yesterday to make his directorial debut on the film.

Todd MacFarlane grabbed Kevin Smith, who is currently developing a Sam & Twitch tv series for BBC, to make a Facebook video that revealed the big news. “No more theoretical, MacFarlane promises. “We’re now making movies.”

“Badass. R [-rated]. It’s coming. Get ready for it, Todd MacFarlane added.

Spawn was created by Todd MacFarlane for Image Comics in 1992. The character is an assassin who goes to Hell, and is given an opportunity to come back to life in exchange for his eventual service to Malbogia (basically “the devil”) in a war with Heaven. But of course there’s a twist, and Spawn is a decomposed monster who can never resume his former life. He has superpowers but they are finite, and when he uses up the last of his magical energy he will once again be trapped in Hell.

The character became a pop culture sensation in the early 1990s, in large part thanks to MacFarlane’s killer artwork and the pedigree of Image Comics, which was comprised of high profile creators who left Marvel Comics to form their own, independent label. Spawn would later inspire multiple spin-offs, an animated series that aired for three seasons on HBO, and a live-action film adaptation starring Michael Jai White, John Leguizamo and Martin Sheen… which sucked.

Todd MacFarlane has been publicly declaring his intention to reboot Spawn and make a darker, more mature film out of the character but after many, many years of these promises it seemed like a new Spawn movie was more of a pipe dream than a plausible reality. Now, it appears that it’s actually happening. Blumhouse is a very frugal production company. They wouldn’t make a business deal unless they seriously intended to produce the damned movie.

Of course Spawn is nowhere near the pop culture juggernaut that it once was, but with a low budget and a lot of elbow grease, a new motion picture based on the character could turn that right around.

No word yet on any cast members, or an official release date, but it sounds like Todd MacFarlane wants to strike while the iron is hot. So hopefully we’ll hear some more official news very soon.

 

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Top Photo: New Line Cinema

William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and Canceled Too Soon, and watch him on the weekly YouTube series What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.

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