SDCC 2017: Todd McFarlane Directing SPAWN For Blumhouse

Spawn creator Todd McFarlane came out swinging this Comic-Con, posting a hyped-up (possibly even more than hyped-up) announcement on Facebook about a just-inked deal to produce a new Spawn movie with Blumhouse Productions:

There you have it. Spawn is back, twenty years after his first, worst, and thus far, only big-screen appearance. McFarlane wrote the script and will direct it, too, which is possibly the only example of a comic creator directing their own big-screen adaptation of their work, outside Frank Miller's Sin City and The Spirit.*

If you're unacquainted with the character: he's a former black ops agent, sent to Hell for his many killings, who makes a deal with a demon to return to his wife, only to discover she's moved on and he's been turned into a demonic superbeing. Tough break, but hey, it was the '90s, and you don't get much more '90s than Spawn.

McFarlane is reportedly pitching this film as a low-budget horror movie, which fits well within Blumhouse's M.O., the studio having seen success with the likes of the Paranormal Activity, Insidious, Ouija, and The Purge series, as well as with one-offs like Split, The Visit, Sinister, and Get Out. None of those films had a reported budget greater than $10 million, and maybe with a lean production, a new Spawn might not be as terrible as the 1997 film.

* Ha ha, The Spirit.