The rhetoric around the long-gestating superhero film Spawn is definitely sounding more confident, after a long time in development hell.
News regarding a proposed adaptation of Todd McFarlane’s Spawn has been circulating for the years since this website came into existence, and for a good while longer, too. For years, things were held up by the (natural) insistence of the character’s creator – Todd McFarlane – that he wanted to shape the creative direction of the project. Given that New Line Cinema’s 1997 attempt to bring the character into cinematic life isn’t remembered fondly, you can hardly blame him for wanting more control this time around.
When McFarlane’s new movie version of Spawn found itself mired in development hell, he eventually ceded some control over the project and a new creative team was bought in. Ever since then, we get occasional updates telling us that it’s happening but with no clear timeline. Today, we finally have something a little clearer, even if it isn’t a solid production green light.
Producer Jason Blum is currently out and about promoting the upcoming release of The Exorcist: Believer. While doing so, he was asked by ComicBook.com about the status of Spawn and Blum gave replied that, “2025 is when Spawn is going to come out. I stand by that. I stand by that.”
Okay then. But given that Spawn has faced so many hurdles on its tortured journey back to cinema screens, what’s the hold up? Blum shed some light on that too, adding, “They’re not looking for a big extravaganza. But, they’re also not looking for an $8 million horror movie budget… We’re taking a pretty big moonshot of what we think we can pull off in Hollywood. If we can pull it off, it will be a big deal, financially, and once you get into those conversations, they’re going to want to do it in a way that they can then get their money back”.
We hope the film isn’t aiming too high with its budget. With McFarlane previously describing the tone as somewhere between The Boys and a traditional horror flick, we’re keen to see that take not get watered down as those holding the purse strings look to sand off the project’s spiky edges to ensure a better financial return.
Either way, Blum has spoken. 2025 is the year that the demonic anti-hero will return from both versions of hell (the fictional version he comes from and the development hell that has plagued the project’s progress). We’re marking it in our diary, so we fervently hope that Mr Blum is good for it.
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