Although Spawn is still going strong in the comics more than 25 years after being introduced, the character's cinematic history is still only represented by 1997's Spawn, which was met with negative reception. Creator Todd McFarlane is aiming to give Spawn theatrical redemption by writing and directing a new Spawn movie, but those of you interested in seeing this reboot should know that this will be a joyless experience. McFarlane wants his Spawn movie to be as dark as possible, as he explained:
There's no joy... There's gonna be no fun lines in it, and it's just gonna be this dark, ugly two hours worth of movie, which is essentially what a lot of supernatural/horror movies are anyway. There's not a lot of funny in them. And that seems to be a weird hurdle for a lot of people in this city to get over because they sort of go into a superhero/Avengers default all the time.
While the original Spawn movie was by no means a comedic affair akin to Deadpool or Guardians of the Galaxy, it did have a few moments that helped lighten the mood, perhaps to its detriment. Todd McFarlane is determined to stay far away from that territory for the Spawn reboot, as he told Nerdist. Spawn may be a comic book adaptation, but it's taking more of a horror approach, and those kinds of stories usually aren't peppered with jokes or humorous beats. Clearly McFarlane is aiming for this movie to feel as different as possible from the traditional comic book movie fare audiences have come to expect.
This isn't the first time that Todd McFarlane has said that Spawn will be more of a horror movie than a superhero movie. Just last October, he said that he wanted to reboot to be so dark that it will make children under 10 cry. He also said that Spawn will feel more R-rated than Deadpool, which he felt still followed the "same PG-13 formula." Since Spawn is being produced by Blumhouse, which has churned out some of the best horror movies of the last several years, there shouldn't be any issue with making Spawn as adult and scary as possible.
Unlike the first Spawn movie, this reboot will not be an origin story, meaning that Al Simmons, played by Jamie Foxx, will already have assumed his demonic form. This version of Spawn will also not speak during the movie, instead communicating in a special way. Aside from the eponymous protagonist, the only other character who's been cast is Detective Twitch Williams, who will be played by Jeremy Renner. Rather than be paired with Sam Burke like he is in the comics, this version of Twitch will have a different, still-to-be-identified partner.
The Spawn reboot still doesn't have a release date yet, so stay tuned to CinemaBlend for that information and other updates on its progress. For now, you can learn what movies will be released over the next year with our 2019 release schedule.
