Fans of Todd McFarlane’s Spawn will be happy to know that a new live-action adaptation of the comic book superhero is in the works. Unfortunately, the movie is still a few years away as the script has not yet been completed, but it’s a start.
Producer Jason Blum of Blumhouse Productions has given a promising update for the film. Blum revealed to ComicBook that the upcoming film is now in active development and is targeting a 2025 release.
“I would say you have a lot to hope for,” Blum shared. “What needs to happen is that my fellow friends, the writers, and the studios need to figure out their differences and get back to writing, but we’ve got a great group of folks putting it together, and my hope is that that movie – my prediction is maybe we’ll actually see a Spawn movie in ’25. No promises, but that’s my prediction.”
The producer has referenced the ongoing Writers Guild Strike in the update for Spawn. The upcoming superhero horror film may still have an unfinished script at this point.
The scriptwriters have been on strike since May 2 and many films including upcoming blockbusters from Marvel have been delayed by the work stoppage. It looks like the strike will go on for a while as the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have yet to restart talks. The Los Angeles City Council has recently adopted a resolution urging the AMPTP to return to the negotiating table.
Spawn’s development hell
It has taken McFarlane a while to get this project going. The Spawn reboot was originally announced in 2015, having been stuck in development hell since. In 2017, McFarlane partnered with Blumhouse to produce the movie with plans to direct it himself.
It’s unclear if McFarlane is still the director for the reboot, but he did hint at making way for other “A-list directors”, saying:
“If we’ve got an A-list actor, A-list producers, A-list writers, then do you want to shoot for A-list directors, A-list cinematographers? The answer is, ‘of course’,” McFarlane said.
The development of the movie was restarted in 2019 after the success of The Joker. McFarlane announced in October 2022 that Scott Silver, Malcolm Spellman, and Matthew Mixon were hired to write the screenplay.
Scott Silver is best known for writing the screenplay for Joker and Joker: Folie à Deux. Spellman is also a veteran of comic book adaptations, having created The Falcon and the Winter Soldier TV series and the upcoming Captain America: Brave New World.
The original Spawn movie debuted in 1997 and was largely panned by critics. Hopefully, the upcoming reboot will fare better given how long it has taken to develop.
