Todd McFarlane teams with “Get Out” producer for “Spawn” movie

PanARMENIAN.Net - Todd McFarlane has announced he's bringing "Spawn" back to the big screen and that he will be on board to direct. The comic book creator made the announcement via Facebook while at San Diego Comic-Con on Friday, July 21 following a panel with director Kevin Smith, AceShowbiz said.

McFarlane, known for reinventing the look of Spider-Man as well as co-creating the Venom character for Marvel Comics, will pen the first draft of the screenplay for the new movie that will mark his directorial debut. He teams up with Jason Blum and Blumhouse Productions to develop the new movie based on the hell-bound anti-hero he created.

Blumhouse is the production company behind a string of successful, low-budget horror thriller films in recent years including "Split" and "Get Out". The James McAvoy-led movie was directed by M. Night Shyamalan and grossed $276 million worldwide on a budget of $9 million, while the Jordan Peele-directed flick grossed $252 million worldwide against its $4.5 million budget.

In the comics, Spawn is formerly an elite CIA mercenary named Al Simmons who, after being killed by his partner, is sent to hell because he's responsible for the death of several innocent people. He makes a deal with an evil being known as Malebolgia so he could see his wife again. But Simmons is turned into a demonic creature, before being sent back to Earth.

The first "Spawn" movie was released by New Line in 1997. Starring Michael Jai White, it grossed $87.8 million at the worldwide box office against its production cost of $40 million. It opened to $19.7 million domestically, ranking second during the first weekend of August, and ended its domestic run at $54.9 million.