New 'Spawn' Movie in the Works From Todd McFarlane, Blumhouse

Jason Blum and his Blumhouse Productions are teaming up with Todd McFarlane to develop a new movie based on the comic book icon's creation, Spawn.

McFarlane has written the first draft of the script and is set to direct the project, marking a rare foray for a comic creator into the director's chair.

McFarlane became a comics superstar and one of the industry's first artist-millionaires in the 1980s, thanks to his work on Amazing Spider-Man. He later was one of the founding artists of Image Comics with his creation, Spawn.

Spawn told of a black-ops agent who is betrayed and killed, his soul sent to hell for all the innocents he killed. While there, he makes a deal with a demon who allows him to return to the earthly plane and his wife. However, five years have now passed, and his wife has moved on, while he is a disfigured and superpowered spawn of hell.

The comic was adapted into a 1997 New Line horror-action movie that starred Michael Jai White, as well as a late-1990s HBO cartoon series.

McFarlane, who also became an entrepreneur with a high-end toy company, has been developing the new movie for some time and was shopping it in the spring, only recently bringing it to Blumhouse. The company is envisioning the new Spawn project as a low-budget horror movie.

Jamie Foxx to Star in 'Spawn' Movie From Blumhouse

Jamie Foxx is set to star in the Spawn movie from Blumhouse, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

Foxx had been rumored to play as the titular antihero in the feature, which will hail from creator Todd McFarlane, but now it is official.

Spawn follows Al Simmons, a black-ops agent who is betrayed and murdered, with his soul sent to hell for all the innocents he killed. While there, he makes a deal with a demon who allows him to return to the earthly plane and his wife. However, five years have now passed, and his wife has moved on, while he is a disfigured and superpowered spawn of hell. Although he has returned to Earth, Simmons finds himself in the middle of a war between Heaven and Hell, with Hellspawn like himself hunted by angels for sport. Additionally, he has to deal with other threats including the Violator, another demon sent to Earth to cultivate evil and generate more soldiers for Hell’s army; he does so disguised as a human clown.

One of the launch titles for Image Comics, the 1992 first issue of Spawn sold 1.7 million copies. Originally written and drawn by Todd McFarlane — a number of writers and artists would later take over the title, including issues written by Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman and Grant Morrison — the series was one of the most popular, and arguably definitive, series of the 1990s. At the height of its popularity, it spawned (no pun intended) toy lines, video games and an animated series on HBO in addition to a 1997 New Line movie that starred Michael Jai White.

McFarlane, one of the founding artists at Image Comics, wrote the first draft of the low-budget production, which he will direct. His leading man Foxx has previously worked in the comic book realm, starring in 2014's Amazing Spider-Man 2 as the villain Electro.

The actor, who is repped by CAA, LBI and Ziffren Britteham, will next been seen in Lionsgate's Robin Hood.

Can you imagine what will happen if this is successful? Todd might develop a bit of an ego.