Comic book legend Todd McFarlane has talked about making a film reboot of Spawn for years, but not everyone is a huge fan of the idea. There's been interest from actors and Blumhouse Productions, but creator McFarlane has so far been unable to kick the project into gear. Black Dynamite star Michael Jai White, who led the original 1997 Spawn, appreciates McFarlane's enthusiasm but ultimately doesn't see the point.
"I don't know anything about it. He's been talking about a reboot of Spawn for 20 years," White told ComicBook. "I think he will continue talking about it, because people listen. I don't understand it, personally. I wish him the best of luck. But, Todd explained to me that this will be a character that you didn't see. You never see the character. It's just a character that's scarcely on film. Personally, I don't get it."
Previously McFarlane mentioned he was interested in making the reboot more horror-oriented than the original, and as such he wanted to show the titular character minimally. He's already the screenwriter behind the in-development project, but there's also been talk about him directing it, too.
"I would think a Spawn movie would cost a lot of money, right? And if there's somebody giving Todd McFarlane, a man who's never directed a movie that much money, that will be a first in my experience," White added. "I'll believe it when I see it. I wish him the best of luck, but doesn't make a lot of sense to me."
McFarlane gave his last update on the Spawn reboot earlier this month. "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," McFarlane toldComicBook at the start of October. "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."
The original Spawn was met with a mostly negative critical reaction and grossed over $87 million worldwide on a $40 million production budget. It was, however, rated PG-13, and McFarlane hopes to commit to an R rating with the reboot.
