Superhero movies are a dime a dozen these days. Between the Marvel Cinematic Universe, DC Extended Universe, and X-Men franchises, you can't go more than two months without a new comic book adaptation arriving in theaters and raking up the cash. It's easy to lump the whole genre together, but a few superhero movies are trying to make a more original film that will set itself apart from the crowd. Case in point: the upcoming Spawn movie, which will be more like a horror movie than a superpowered adventure that we're used to seeing. Producer Jason Blum recently revealed how the new film will be different from most of its peers, saying:
This Spawn movie is a kind of superhero movie, but a very different kind of feeling superhero movie. I like the idea of low-budget superhero movies. It's cool.
If there's one thing that comic book movies have never been called, it's low-budget. Each installment of the MCU costs million and millions of dollars, making up to a billion at the box office. But according to Jason Blum's comments to Collider, Spawn film will be decidedly cheaper-- which sounds like an intriguing choice for an otherwise formulaic genre.
Indeed, Todd McFarlane is hoping to make a Spawn that won't even relate to the film of the same name from the 90s. Rather than a dark caped crusading anti-hero, Spawn as a character will function more like a horror movie villain. He won't be fighting villains and saving the day, but instead acting more like a ghost or specter. While the audience will know it's Spawn, the new movie seems almost nothing like the 1997 version.
It's this emphasis on horror that no doubt got Blumhouse's attention. The production company is responsible for some of the best modern scary movies, including Get Out, The Conjuring, and Don't Breathe. Blumhouse is the go to place for horror, and is releasing a handful of new releases over the next few months before Halloween.
While it's unclear exactly what the budget of Spawn will be, cheaper superhero movies have been proven to be wildly successful in the last year. Deadpool seemed to be a game changer for the genre, proving that a lower budget and R-rated superhero movie could still make a ton of money and become an instant classic. This was followed up by James Mangold's Logan, which was an intimate and brutal X-Men film that only contained a handful of recognizable characters. But if Spawn is made on a horror movie budget, it should be significantly cheaper than even those two.
It's currently unclear exactly when Spawn will arrive in theaters, but we'll be sure to update you as details become public. In the meantime, check out our 2017 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.
