When the Spawn announcement hit San Diego Comic-Con, fans assumed a new toy line would likely follow suit. You might be surprised to learn then that no such toy line exists.
ComicBook.com's Jim Viscardi had the chance to chat with Spawn creator Todd McFarlane about the Spawn reboot, and when asked if the film would get an accompanying toy line, McFarlane gave a surprising answer.
"No, actually here's the funny thing. I own a toy company, so again all my sales people, I remember I had to calm them down but they were all like "Oh my gosh Todd's going to finally do something!" This was a few months ago and I had to sit them down going "You know how I said I think we're going to get pass the hurdle, we're going to make this movie? I didn't write a story that was gonna make toys."
It's hard to make a toy of a figure that is constantly seen in the shadows, and that will heavily be the case in the horror focused reboot.
"It's a horror movie," said McFarlane. "It doesn't have anything other than the shadow moving, and you can just see that they were like "Oh we're going to run into K-Mart, Walmart, and Target and say we've got the hottest toys from the hottest movie!" and it's like "no".
It was important for McFarlane to keep the focus on the story, and not get caught up in making the plot fit marketing and toy plans, something that has come to backfire on other films of Spawn's ilk.
'I've always felt like when I come up with an idea that you don't let any tail wag a dog. So when I was coming up with the idea I'd go "I don't want to worry about whether someone's going to buy the comic book or someone's going to buy the toys or if someone's going to buy the novel." I'm going to write something for moviegoers, and moviegoers as you know, can simply go to a movie, enjoy it, and go home, and never have to buy a hat, shirt, or a toy. They don't have to. They just go "hey that was a cool movie. What movie are we going to next week?", and they move on with their life."
Now that doesn't mean there won't be toys and accessories further down the line, but McFarlane just wants to make a well-rounded film first and foremost.
"To me, I just wanted to make a movie for moviegoers that like sort of dark creepy stuff and I'll just let the other dominoes fall around it. I'll worry about those as we go."
Spawn will be coming from Blumhouse, makers of The Purge, Paranormal Activity, and The Belko Experiment. The budget will be in the $10 million range, and no release date has been announced.
