Todd McFarlane Says Joker Paved the Way for R-Rated Spawn Movie

Joker is still in theaters and cruising towards a possible awards season to remember. Todd McFarlane is hoping that some of that R-rated magic rubs off on his own creation, Spawn. Now, the director has hinted at the possibility of a Spawn film numerous times and he recently took to Instagram to talk about the prospect of the project again. The dark and gritty character had a movie back in 1997. That project was supposed to be rated R before being cut down to PG-13. However, films like Deadpool and Joker have McFarlane thinking of another trip to the silver screen. In the post, he mentions two positive meetings about Spawn and he believes that Joker’s success is a huge reason for the interest.

Previously this year at New York Comic Con he said, “It’s interesting because Hollywood people sometimes say, ‘No, it doesn’t matter who you’re talking about. This doesn’t matter. This doesn’t matter.’ Of course it matters, right?”

“Because you’ve seen it dozens of times, ‘movie A’ with ‘topic A’ does great. There’s a mad rush to replicate it. ‘TV show A’ with ‘topic A’ is successful, there’s a mad rush for everybody to replicate. So what I’m hoping for is that last year was the release of Venom, and so that adds a little bit of a checkmark next to the resume because I go, ‘Hey, the guy who co-created Venom is also got this character called Spawn.’”

“I’m hoping Joker opens up big and right now it’s tracking. So I hope it does, and then what it will prove is that you can do R-rated movies,” he added. “And, again, there’ve been R-rated superhero movies with Logan and Deadpool, but I’m talking in which the content is serious, right? That somebody took it and had this serious tale. And if that works, then they’re going to do their checkbox and they’re going to go, ‘Hey, you know what we need more of? What just worked? Oh yeah, R-rated, check. Comic book material, check and dark, check.’ And that’s Spawn check, check, check. So I’ve been trying to say this to them. I think this type of material will work, but they just need sometimes the proof in the pudding to go, ‘Oh! That’s what you’ve been telling us. You’re saying the audience can get a wider diet than just PG 13. Yes, yes. On a serious level, on a serious level, not Deadpool level.’

“So if it works, I’m hoping that I can be the next guy in the door going, ‘Hey, you don’t have to call through your, unless you’re Warner Brothers and Disney, you don’t have to start calling through who can I go get that’s R-rated. Here’s a book and a title that has sold more comic books in a single issue than any other book in American independent comic books. It’s the longest-running book in the history of mankind for a creator-owned book.“

Would you be hyped to see an R-rated Spawn movie? Let us know what you think in the comments.