Todd McFarlane Reveals His Master Plan to Direct Spawn vs. Venom Movie

If we’re being honest, we weren’t holding out too much hope for the new Spawn movie even getting made, let alone being good. After all, the 1997 original, with its $40 million budget, was just short of a flop when the Spawn comic book was still relevant, and creator Todd McFarlane wants to produce and direct the new Spawn movie on a budget of a measly $10 million, a large chunk of which is likely going to Jamie Foxx, who is headlining the film.

But McFarlane is nothing if not ambitious. In fact, he is so confident that fans will flock to his low-budget R-rated “supernatural thriller” that he is already setting his sights on a bigger prize: pairing on the big screen his signature Image Comics creation with his most famous Marvel Comics creation in a joint venture with Sony.

Here’s a big ‘What If.’ What if Sony distributes ‘Spawn?’ Then is it possible that in the future Sony could have a crossover with ‘Venom‘ and ‘Spawn?’ It’s possible. So, I will be presenting that possibility to the Sony executives when we get ready.

My conversation with them would be, why wouldn’t you? Here’s what I know. Let’s say ‘Venom’ is huge — I hope it is — then no matter who distributes ‘Spawn,’ the first thing you will see in every trailer will be, ‘From the co-creator of ‘Venom.” So, then my question to Sony is, why would you let one of your competitors use that line, given that it was your effort that made ‘Venom’ work? Your money that made ‘Venom’ work? Your marketing that made ‘Venom’ work? I think it’s worth asking, then, what happens if they both work? And then what happens ten years down the line, when they want to do a ‘Spawn/Venom’ crossover and they get the guy who helped create both those characters to direct it? Might be kind of cool.

This seems like a highly unlikely scenario given the complicated relationship Sony already has with Marvel regarding the rights to Spider-Man and related characters and the fact that Spawn hasn’t even secured a distributor yet. However, comic book movies are as popular as ever, with Rated-R movies like Kick-Ass, Logan and the Kingsman and Deadpool movies drawing big crowds, and McFarlane seems to be able to make things happen by sheer force of will, so who knows?

Ruben Fleischer’s (Zombieland) Venom, starring Tom Hardy, opens in theaters on October 5th.