It’s been about a year and a half since Todd McFarlane cut a deal with Blumhouse Productions to bring his vision of an R-ratedSpawnreboot to life. Yet, we sit here seemingly no closer to the movie getting made, for various reasons. However, according to McFarlane, the recent success ofJokercould help to get the project going.
Todd McFarlane, the creator ofSpawn, is celebrating a recent milestone, as his Image Comics title passed 301 issues, putting it inThe Guinness Book of World Recordsas the longest-running creator-owned superhero comic in history. During a recent interview in honor of the achievement, McFarlane was asked about the status of his long-gestating movie. Here’s what he had to say about it, commenting about the recent success ofJoker.
“We keep pushing for it. It’s interesting cause the Marvel movies, the MCU, has been doing quite well and those are PG-13 movies. I keep trying to convince people that doing a dark, serious comic book movie will work. There’s been so much success with these PG-13 movies that there’s a resistance to them in Hollywood. But since Joker came out, it proves what I’ve been saying for over two years to any executives I can talk to. Serious dark comic books can work.R-movies can succeed. So now, all of a sudden, I’ve been getting a lot of phone calls saying, ‘Todd, we need to talk to you about that R-rated dark thing you wanted to do.’ So Joker did me a favor.”
Indeed,Jokerhas been an unexpectedly huge success. Starring Joaquin Phoenix in the lead role, theTodd Phillips-directed DC Comics adaptationhas grossed a stunning $856 million worldwide, and counting. It’s also been met with positive reviews and even took home the top prize at the Venice Film Festival. Not bad for an R-rated comic book movie Warner Bros. initially didn’t have confidence in.
Todd McFarlane, meanwhile, wrote the script for his newSpawnmovie personally, and intends to direct. This, despite the fact that he’s never directed a feature before.Blumhouse supported his vision, but getting the budget needed has proved problematic. Now, as McFarlane tells it, opportunities are opening up, thanks toJoker. The key difference being that Todd Phillips had directed quite a few movies before making his DC adaptation, as the man behindThe Hangovertrilogy, as well asDue DateandWar Dogs.
Jamie Foxx is attached to star in the title role, with Hawkeye actor Jeremy Renner also attached as a lead character, Twitch Williams. In the past, Todd McFarlane has compared the movie he wishes to make toJawsand sees it as more of a horror movie, not a traditional superhero flick. It certainly doesn’t hurt thatJokerwas also rather non-traditional. We’ll be sure to keep you posted as any further updates on the project are made available. This news comes to us via thePhoenix New Times.
