Spawn has been an icon, with a massive following in nerdum since his introduction to the public in May 1992. Todd Mcfarlane broke away from the big 2, to found Image Comics and Spawn was the flagship character. Spawn #1 still holds the record as the highest selling creator-owned comic of all time, with 1.7 million copies sold.
Over the last 3+ decades, we've only been treated to one live action adaptation of Al Simmons, with Spawn hitting theaters on August 1st, 1997. Spawn '97 still holds a nostalgic piece of my heart, but I know deep down, it's a mid to low adaptation of what the character should be, which really isn't a hot take. Bad writing, now dated CGI, and some extremely questionable acting from some actors, it's not hard to see why this movie doesn't hold up at all.
McFarlane has been vocal over the last 15 or so years about the new big screen take on the character. He has given numerous updates over this time, ranging from: the script being complete, to casting, directors and Blumhouse coming on as the studio. The list could really go on and on. Take this quote from 7 years ago as a prime example:
Talking with Nerd Daily back in 2019:
"Well, I think I probably should have gotten it done 10 years ago. So it wasn’t such a big gap between this and the other movie. But the upside of it being 20 years later is that there has been this whole tidal wave of superhero movies globally that have now created this giant pool of geeks all over the place."
With the trades, public, critics and even fans now being in "Superhero Fatigue" that thought process may not be as hot as it was 7 years ago. However, what is the other aspect of Spawn, that would still hit home with the modern audience? Take a look at this quote from the same interview with Nerd Daily in 2019:
Todd: "We’re way closer to what you see in most scary movies. And I hesitate to say horror because sometimes people think that’s like blood and guts. But horror, terror, supernatural thriller movies. In those movies there’s one thing in common – there’s only one element in those entire movies that’s fantastic."
Interviewer: "Like A Quiet Place lately."
Todd: "Well I’m talking about more like Jaws. Obviously there’s only one giant shark. And then, if you go to John Carpenter’s The Thing there’s only one thing, and then, if you go to The Grudge there’s only the one little girl. And even recently The Nun. So you don’t have six or eight of them. There’s usually one bogeyman. And if you take it out, like in The Exorcist, if you take out the demonic element that was in there, that one demonic element, then everything else in that movie was normal. Other than the girl and the possession, everything else in this movie is the world that you and I live in. Even to the point that in The Exorcist the next-door-neighbours probably didn’t even know what was going on."
Obviously the movies he's listing are a bit dated at this point for reference, but over the last few years, horror movies have been a big portion, of the few movies that have brought people back to the theater. With smaller budgets, shorter production times and the desire for everyone to show their friends and family the new "crazy horror flick", It's easy to see why the studios and distributors have been putting backing to them. Some of the best examples from just the last 2 years being:
- The Substance: $18 Million Budget / $82 Million Box Office
- Longlegs: $10 Million Budget / $128 Million Box Office
- Weapons: $38 Million Budget / $270 Million Box Office
- Terrifier 3: $2 Million Budget / $90 Million Box Office
- Backrooms: $10 Million Budget / $357 Million Box Office
- Obsession: $750k Budget / $403 Million Box Office
With this in mind, now seems like the time for Todd to strike with a new Spawn movie. The iron is hot and if done right, Spawn could be a massive hit with the general audience and fans alike.
I'm not in the movie business, but it's hard to imagine a Spawn movie done like this, wouldn't fall right in the sweet spot of The Substance and Weapons budgets of 20-40 million. Use the first season of the HBO animated series and the first 5 issues of the comics as the outline for the movie. We follow Billy Kincaid and his horrors, mixed with Al coming back and remembering who he is. Finally Sam and Twitch unraveling it all. the big conclusion being the death of Billy, and Al finally accepting his "anti-heroism." This would leave a satisfying conclusion, in case we don't get a second movie and if we do, we can dive more into Spawns origin, life before dying, family, and the more fantastical elements of his world. This would also avoid the trope of the first movie being nothing but an origin story. You got everything right there Todd, and the general audience has never been more hungry for movies to get creeped out to.
I write this article out of love, because I have been a Spawn fan since I was way too young to be taking in such an IP. At 35 now, the hope of a new Spawn movie is feeling like the wait GTA 6. That's right, we got GTA 6 before a Spawn movie. Let me know your thoughts below on the fact the development hell this movie is in, has been longer than Al Simmons was in hell.