It’s been a while since we heard anything from Development Hell about the new Spawn film, which has consistently been par for the course with this thing. But it still has traction presumably – as well as a fresh new title.
Blumhouse posted on their Twitter/X a first look at the title and what may be the logo font for title cards and marketing purposes. The film’s producers announce via photo evidence that the production is now called King Spawn.
This title might be an indication of where the story by Matt Mixon, Malcolm Spellman, and Scott Silver draws inspiration. King Spawn is a current ongoing series by creator Todd McFarlane, writer Sean Lewis, and artists Javier Fernandez and Brett Booth in which the escape of the greatest evil from Hell puts the realm’s throne on the line.
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There’s more to it, but that nutshell of a logline is quite different from the movie everybody thought they were getting for years and years. Originally, the story reportedly centered on the detective supporting characters Sam and Twitch with Spawn existing in the background as more of a wraith.
Jamie Foxx was cast as the title antihero and Jeremy Renner was lined up as cop Twitch. “My original plan has gotten tripped up a bit,” McFarlane said to ComicBook.com in 2023. That puts it mildly.
The Image Comics co-founder had his plans for a detective story starring Foxx and Renner in place for a decade or more. However, time not being on everyone’s side, age, injuries, and near-death health crises accrued by both men in the last few years may be what caused McFarlane and Blumhouse to pivot.
They announced a new direction for the screenplay in 2020, which was not a friendly year for the industry. Undeterred everybody pushed on and McFarlane was able to declare a nearing of the finish line plus 80 new pages he had seen pre-strike.
“We’re bringing on A-list people. Not just one, but multiple A-list people…” McFarlane added in his remarks to CB. “What they’re not going to want is to do a cheap, low-budget movie with all of these big-name people on it. That’s not why they’re signing up. They’re not looking for a big extravaganza. But, they’re also not looking for an 8 million dollar horror movie budget.”
King Spawn is decades and several missteps in the making, but the reboot might be ready for theaters finally in 2025.
