News Spawn Reboot

Doctor Omega

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Blum On “Halloween,” “Spawn” Creator Involvement


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A producing industry in his own right, Jason Blum is currently out doing press for Blumhouse’s new horror project “Happy Death Day” and discussed two of the company’s most high profile upcoming projects with Coming Soon.

The first is the “Halloween” reboot which sees David Gordon Green helming from a script by himself and Danny McBride. Most importantly though it brings back Jamie Lee Curtis to the franchise, and has the involvement of original film director John Carpenter.

In recent years Carpenter’s name has been on remakes of several of his most famous works as an executive producer, but in those cases he’s had no real involvement. That’s not the case here insists Blum:

“We don’t take any big steps without his approval, so for instance hiring David and Danny he approved. He approved their pitch, he approved their first script. He approved bringing back Jamie Lee Curtis.

So anytime we make a big creative turn he’s involved with that and we don’t do it without his blessing. We went to him and asked him to be involved. There was no contractual, financial or any other obligation to have him on this movie. We went back and asked him to join us again.”

Blum also discussed the “Spawn” reboot which creator Todd McFarlane is directing. Labelled a ‘down and dirty horror film’ as opposed to a big-budget fantasy film, Blum spoke about the challenge of telling the story on a contained budget:

“One of the things is we’re keeping the scope of the script relatively contained, so that’s the biggest way. I think the other way is he and I aren’t paying ourselves any money out of the budget nor will any of the actors, so that’s another way. We’re using our usual tricks!”

McFarlane has written the first draft of the screenplay and is set to make his directorial debut on the project.
 

Doctor Omega

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The New “Spawn” Won’t Say A Word


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“Spawn” creator Todd McFarlane recently spoke with AZCentral to discuss his upcoming panel at Ace City Comic-Con and talked touched upon the new “Spawn” film in the works which he is directing later this year.

Asked to offer a status update on the project, he confirmed those involved have just signed off on the script and are going into budgeting with casting meetings now underway. He also touched upon the tone and revealed the title character will remain silent throughout the film:

“It will be dark and heavy, serious, R-rated. It won’t be a superhero movie. I don’t think most people would categorize it as that. It will be a supernatural thriller, like a lot of good creep movies. I like to explain that it’s my Jaws. Spawn doesn’t say a word the entire movie, and it’s the same way with Jaws. It’s about the sheriff and the people, chasing the ghost. That’s it.

The lead role isn’t Spawn, the lead role is a cop, like Sheriff Brody from Jaws. I think we can hook a fairly significant actor that we want. Unlike a superhero movie, we wouldn’t need an actor to put on prosthetic (makeup) or go to the gym. We just need him to act.”

No specific production date for the new film has been set. At last report, the movie is keeping things trim with a $10 million budget at most.
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
“Spawn” creator Todd McFarlane says that the upcoming reboot of his franchise is targeting a May start date reports Omega Underground. Blumhouse Productions is producing the remake which McFarlane will write, produce and make his directorial debut on. McFarlane has previously indicated the film is going to be: “dark and heavy, serious, R-rated. It won’t be a superhero movie.”
 

Doctor Omega

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Jamie Foxx Sought For The New “Spawn”?


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Five years ago, Jamie Foxx was reportedly “aggressively pursuing” the role of comics anti-hero Spawn in the long in the works new adaptation of Todd McFarlane’s comic creation.

Now, with the newest take on the property finally going forward, Foxx may get that chance with That Hashtag Show reporting that Foxx has been offered the part of Al Simmons/Spawn in the film.

Should he accept though, he would only be co-star – the film’s main role will be Detective Twitch Williams who will team with Spawn to track down and bring violent justice to the men responsible for the kidnapping and murder of his daughter.

That part hasn’t been cast. At last report, McFarlane was hoping to begin production this year for a 2019 release.
 

Doctor Omega

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Jamie Foxx Confirmed As The New “Spawn”


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He was already rumored but now it’s confirmed, Jamie Foxx is set to star in the film adaptation of the “Spawn” comics at Blumhouse Pictures.

Comics creator Todd McFarlane makes his directorial debut on an adaptation he scripted. Foxx will play Al Simmons, a member of a CIA black ops team who is betrayed twice. After being set up by his cohorts to be murdered with his corpse set aflame, he is double-crossed in Hell.

Convinced to become a Hellspawn warrior, in exchange for being able to be reunited with his wife, he finds himself stuck in a demonic creature shell and his wife having moved on and married his best friend.

So this is one pissed-off antihero who attends to dispatching the scum of the city in good and evil battles that encompass Earth, Heaven and Hell.

The budget is expected to be a very economical $10-12 million affair, allowing it to be a dark R-rated realization of McFarlane’s vision with Spawn himself only a supporting character – more akin to the shark in Jaws or the creature in “The Thing”. McFarlane cites “Jacob’s Ladder” as a big influence on the new take.
 

Doctor Omega

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“Spawn” Creator Talks Costume Changes


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Todd McFarlane’s “Spawn” character has an immediately identifiable look which effectively separates him from every other comic character out there. The black and white body, green eyes, the flowing red cape, the chains, and so forth are all key elements of the memorable design – take any of them away and it’s not really Spawn is it?

Of course, with a new “Spawn” coming to the screen it’s certain the character will undergo a bit of a makeover. The previous live-action 1997 film was fairly loyal to the comic’s look when in full force – but the cost of computer effects and the lack of ability to emote through a static face meant both the mask and cape were only seen sparingly in the final film.

With a new film on the way and the recent news of “The Walking Dead” FX guru Greg Nicotero coming onboard, the same man who designed the 1997 film, fans have become concerned the changes will be too much. McFarlane has addressed those concerns today, telling ComicBook.com the only changes won’t be drastic ones:

“Does Spawn have a dark mask and his body dark and then does he have a cape in the comic books? Yes, yes, yes. Will he have all of that in the movie? Yes, yes, yes. So it’s not like I’m going to give him wings instead of a cape and I’m not going to give him no mask instead of a mask. There’s not going to be any of that. It just won’t be exactly what a hardcore fan is used to.

But I’m hoping that people who just go and are familiar with Spawn will say, ‘Yeah, it’s in the box.’ And people who know nothing about Spawn will go, ‘Wow, that’s cool.’ And I have to design for filmgoers not for comic book fans because the filmgoers are going to be bigger than the pool of the comic book fans.”

Jamie Foxx and Jeremy Renner star in the new R-rated film which Blumhouse Productions will produce.
 

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After years of speculation, Spawn returns to the big screen in a darker, R-rated version of the dark hero’s story. Creator Todd McFarlane discusses what’s in store for the upcoming reboot and gives us a special peek into his artistic process.


 

Doctor Omega

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New “Spawn” Will Give Kids Nightmares


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“Venom” is currently at the top of the box-office, the character originally a creation for the “Spider-Man” comics by famed writer and artist Todd McFarlane.

McFarlane’s other most famous creation though is “Spawn,” the comics property that has previously been adapted twice for the screen – the 1997 PG-13 fantasy film which wasn’t well received, and the acclaimed 1999 HBO animated series which was very R-rated and strictly for adults.

McFarlane has long been trying to get a new film version of “Spawn” off the ground for years, one closer to the comics and HBO series. He finally found a home with Blumhouse Productions recently who are going to help him make it with Jamie Foxx starring as the title character, Jeremy Renner co-starring and Greg Nicotero designing the character.

IGN caught up with McFarlane at the New York Comic Con and asked him about the tone the new “Spawn” is going for and where it’s progressing. Turns out much of the problem with getting “Spawn” made is that Hollywood treats it like a superhero and that’s not what he’s aiming for:

“If you think about it as a horror [film] it makes complete sense. If you think about it as Captain America it falls apart. Here’s what I’m trying to get Hollywood to understand because they still don’t quite get it – I want to do a dead-serious scary movie that happens to be a superhero, right? And so they keep tripping into this superhero part and I wish I could almost take that piece out of it.”

Indeed the plan is to go dark, and not ‘it could’ve been PG-13 if we cut it’ level dark but something very R-rated and very much not for kids from the outset:

“There have been a couple of R-rated movies out there. They even teased us a little bit with Venom before they went to PG-13. But they’re not going to go dark in my definition of dark or Jason Blum’s definition of dark or Greg Nicotero’s definition of dark. Their dark is, ‘here’s PG-13, here’s R’. They go over a little bit. We’re talking over here. We’re talking that it would make your kids cry. If you’re going to do dark R, make the children cry who are under 10. That’s the movie. Do I think that The Joker is gonna make 10-year-olds cry? Nope. Would I make them cry? Sure I would because I’d be doing a movie for adults.”

There’s still no word as to when we’ll see the film or of a potential production schedule.
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
The “Spawn” Film Stalls & McFarlane May Walk



The path of Todd McFarlane’s reboot of the “Spawn” franchise on the big screen has been a long and winding one. In the last year or so though, things were looking up with the hiring of Jamie Foxx and Jeremy Renner for the film which was setup at Blumhouse Productions.


McFarlane is supposed to write and direct the project which he previously confirmed will be dark and very R-rated, and can do that by keeping the budget tight (at just $10-12 million) in order to move forward. McFarlane himself seemed to be at least partially financing the project, but this week he tells ComicBook.com that things have stalled as everyone involved has yet to agree on the script:

“The money’s sitting on the sidelines ready to go. I just need to get everyone that wants to put in money to shake their heads to the same script. As you can imagine, everyone has a slightly different version of it in their head. You just go and trying to appease a handful of people while not giving in to what it is that I’m trying to do myself. Because if I have to change it too much, I’ll just walk away from it all.”

In the comics, Spawn is a human-turned-Hellspawn who possesses superhuman strength and speed, and near immortality. The project would mark the third major screen adaptation of the character following 1997’s not well-regarded live-action film from New Line, and 1999’s acclaimed HBO adult animated series.
 
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