Comics
Update: Todd McFarlane Says “Academy Award-Winning Guy” Has Exited ‘Spawn’
Assembling a film is like playing Jenga, as there are so many factors that determine cast, budget, location, release, etc. that one wrong move could bring the entire game down.
Todd McFarlane has been pushing the boulder that is his long gestating Spawn reboot up a mountain for years. It appeared to be sitting at the very top after locking down Blumhouse as producers with Jamie Foxx attached to star as the title character and Jeremy Renner as Detective Twitch.
Returning to the Jenga metaphor, McFarlane has been pulling out game pieces in a flurry, demanding to direct, demanding an R-rating, demanding to use his screenplay, and publicly clamoring for a ridiculous $20M budget. All of these factors are dangerous moves that could end the game in an instant.
However, it’s the cast that may have left the project teetering. In speaking with Shoryuken, McFarlane may have let slip that Spawn has lost its star.
“Last week I got some discouraging news, we had an academy award-winning guy who was going to do the movie with us, but he fell off,” said McFarlane.
While he doesn’t outright say his name, Jamie Foxx won an Oscar for “Best Actor” in Ray (2005). There’s still no confirmation of Foxx’s exit, but the loss of someone of his caliber could create a domino effect that eventually crashes the game down. From the sound of it, that’s already what’s happening.
Update: Comicbook.com has their own update to the story: “The Academy-nominated creator was a writer and that McFarlane has moved on to approaching yet another award-winning writer.”
But that statement conflicts with McFarlane’s previous quotes. Here’s what he added after revealing the loss of “an academy award-winning guy”:
“We had people willing to fund the movie as long as we had this guy attached but schedules were conflicting, and things had to change,” McFarlane added. “That’s how close we are to getting this thing off the ground.”
Writers typically don’t have conflicting schedules, which makes this statement odd, but if this update is truthful, the big story here is that McFarlane has ceased demanding the use of his own screenplay and is allowing others to take a crack at it. That would be huge progress.
I grew up on McFarlane’s work and would love nothing more than to see Spawn back on the big screen. However, I continue to remain as skeptical as I was on day one. I’d love to eat my words, but I won’t believe it until I see it.
Comics
‘Witchblade’ is Getting Resurrected This Summer in New Comic Series from Top Cow and Image Comics
Witchblade, the popular comic series that initially ran from 1995 to 2015 and launched a TV series, is getting resurrected in a new comic series from Top Cow and Image Comics. It’s set to unleash heavy metal, black magic and blood this summer.
Look for the new Witchblade series to launch on July 17, 2024.
In Witchblade #1, “New York City Police Detective Sara Pezzini’s life was forever fractured by her father’s murder. Cold, cunning, and hellbent on revenge, Sara now stalks a vicious criminal cabal beneath the city, where an ancient power collides and transforms her into something wild, magnificent, and beyond her darkest imaginings. How will Sara use this ancient power, or will she be consumed by it?”
The series is penned by NYT Best-Selling writer Marguerite Bennett (Animosity, Batwoman, DC Bombshells) and visualized by artist Giuseppe Cafaro (Suicide Squad, Power Rangers, Red Sonja). The creative duo is working with original co-creator Marc Silvestri, who is the CEO of Top Cow Productions Inc. and one of the founders of Image Comics. They are set to reintroduce the series to Witchblade’s enduring fans with “a reimagined origin with contemporary takes on familiar characters and new story arcs that will hook new readers and rekindle the energy and excitement that fueled the 90’s Image Revolution that shaped generations of top creators.”
Bennett said in a statement, “The ability to tell a ferocious story full of monsters, sexuality, vision, and history was irresistible.” She adds, “Our saga is sleek, vicious, ferocious, and has a lot to say about power in the 21st century and will be the first time that we are stopping the roller coaster to let more people on. I’ve loved Witchblade since I was a child, and there is truly no other heroine like Sara with such an iconic legacy and such a rich, brutal relationship to her own body.”
“The Witchblade universe is being modernized to reflect how Marguerite beautifully explores the extreme sides of Sara through memories, her personal thoughts, like desire and hunger, in her solitude and when she is possessed by the Witchblade. So, I had to visually intersect a noir True Detective-like world with a supernatural, horror world that is a fantastic mix between Berserk and Zodiac,” Cafaro stated.
Marc Silvestri notes, “This is brand new mythology around Sara, and I can’t wait for you to fall in love with her and all the twists and turns. Discover Witchblade reimagined this summer, and join us as we bring all the fun of the 90s to the modern age and see how exciting comics can be. I can’t wait for you to read this new series.”
Witchblade#1 will be available at comic book shops on Wednesday, July 17th, for $4.99 for 48 pages. And it’ll come with multiple cover variants.
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Cover A: Marc Silvestri and Arif Prianto (Full Color)
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Cover B: Giuseppe Cafaro and Arif Prianto (Full Color)
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Cover C: Blank Sketch Cover
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Cover D (1/10): Dani and Brad Simpson (Full Color)
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Cover E (1/25): Marc Silvestri and Arif Prianto, Virgin Cover (Full Color)
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Cover F (1/50): J.Scott Campbell (Full Color)
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Cover G (1/100): Bill Sienkiewicz. (Full Color)
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Cover H (1/250): Line art by Marc. Virgin Cover, Inks (B/W)
Witchblade #1 will also be available across many digital platforms, including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, and Google Play.
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