Spawn is a 1997 American superhero film based on the Image Comics character of the same name. Directed by Mark A.Z. Dippé from a script by Alan B. McElroy, the film stars Michael Jai White as the titular character, alongside John Leguizamo, Martin Sheen, Theresa Randle, D. B. Sweeney and Nicol Williamson in his final film role. Spawn is one of the first films to feature an African-American actor portraying a major comic book superhero. The film depicts the character's origin story as a murdered US Marine who returns from Hell as its army's reluctant leader. Spawn was released in the United States on August 1, 1997. It received generally negative reviews but was a box office success, grossing $87.9 million worldwide against a production budget between $40–45 million. A reboot, entitled King Spawn, is in development.
Plot U.S. Marine Corps Force Recon Lieutenant Colonel and CIA operative Al Simmons is assigned by his superior, Jason Wynn, to infiltrate a biochemical weapons plant in North Korea, despite Simmons' growing moral qualms with the nature of his work. Unknown to Simmons, Wynn has ordered his top assassin Jessica Priest to murder him while he is on the mission. Before Simmons dies, he is set on fire by Wynn as the plant explodes as well. Simmons arrives in Hell, where one of its rulers, Malebolgia, offers him a deal – if Simmons becomes his eternal servant and leader of his army in Armageddon, he will be able to return to Earth to see his wife, Wanda Blake. Simmons accepts the offer and is returned to Earth as a being known as a "Hellspawn".
Unfortunately, Simmons, now known as Spawn, learns that five years have passed since his death. Wanda is now married to his best friend Terry Fitzgerald, who is living as the stepfather to his daughter, Cyan. Spawn encounters a clown-like demon known as the Violator, sent by Malebolgia, who acts as his guide. Spawn also meets and befriends a young homeless boy named Zack and the mysterious and elderly Cogliostro, a former Hellspawn who has successfully freed his soul and now fights for Heaven. Spawn learns that Wynn is now a weapons dealer and has developed a biological weapon called Heat 16. During a reception, Spawn attacks Wynn, murders Jessica and escapes using his newfound powers as a Hellspawn.
Following the attack by Spawn, Violator convinces Wynn to have a device attached to his heart that will release Heat 16 worldwide if his vital signs flatline as a deterrent against assassination attempts; Malebolgia intends for Simmons to murder Wynn and initiate the apocalypse. Spawn confronts Violator, who enters his demonic form and beats him down. Cogliostro then rescues and teaches him how to use his powers with Zack. Spawn then learns that Violator and Wynn are after his family.
Terry sends an email incriminating Wynn to a fellow newsman. Just as the email is sent, Wanda, Cyan and Wynn enter the room. Wynn destroys Terry's computer and takes the family hostage. Spawn, Cogliostro and Zack arrive and nearly murder Wynn, but Spawn extracts the device from Wynn's body instead and destroys it. With his plan foiled, Violator sends Spawn and Cogliostro to Hell, where they both battle the demon before subduing him. Spawn is then confronted by Malebolgia as the latter renounces his intended purpose before escaping with Cogliostro just before they are overwhelmed by the villain's forces. Violator, having recovered, follows them, whereupon one last confrontation that culminates with Spawn decapitating the demon ensues. Violator's head taunts the group and threatens his return before retreating back to Hell. Wynn is arrested and Spawn, realizing there is no place for him in Wanda's world anymore, dedicates himself to justice rather than vengeance and returns to the streets with his allies.
Cast
Spawn creator Todd McFarlane makes a cameo appearance as a homeless man. The characters of Sam and Twitch appear in silent cameo appearances, portrayed by uncredited stand-ins. Angela, a character created by Neil Gaiman and McFarlane, makes a cameo appearance, played by Laura Interval.
Production Columbia Pictures showed interest in making a film adaptation of Spawn when the comic book was launched in 1992. Negotiations fell through as Todd McFarlane felt that the studio was not giving him enough creative control. He eventually sold the film rights to New Line Cinema for $1 in exchange for creative input and merchandising rights. New Line president Michael De Luca, a comic book collector himself, expressed interest in having "a character that has as established an audience as Spawn", while declaring that success hinged on an adaptation that "maintains a PG-13 rating but retains its darkness."
As visual effects were an important production concern, the film was to be produced by Pull Down Your Pants Pictures, a company formed by former Industrial Light & Magic artists Mark A.Z. Dippé, Clint Goldman and Steve 'Spaz' Williams. Dippé was slated to direct the film, with Goldman as producer, and Williams as second unit director and visual effects supervisor. Dippé and Williams, who at the time was the only one of the three still attached to ILM, called the film opportunity "our ticket out of the company". The script would be written by Alan B. McElroy, who, along with writing the Spawn comic book, also wrote many episodes of the Todd McFarlane's Spawn animated series.
Michael Jai White found Al Simmons' character appealing; he described Spawn as "the most tragic character I've encountered in any cinematic production." He says it was a challenge to make audiences sympathize with a government assassin who comes back from hell. White had to endure two to four hours of make-up work, including a full glued-on bodysuit, yellow contact lenses that irritated his eyes, and a mask that restricted his breathing. He said that his long-time experience with martial arts helped him to endure the uncomfortable prosthetics, giving him "strong will and unbreakable concentration." The makeup for John Leguizamo as Clown took eight hours to apply at first, but they later got the process down to about four hours. It left him with blisters and callouses on his face and neck. Leguizamo found the heavy prosthetics of his costume for the Clown to be claustrophobic, and the costume lacked any kind of a cooling system so he would sweat excessively. He compared the situation to wearing a full body condom.
Spawn was originally green-lit with a budget of $20 million. The scale of the visual effects led New Line to continually increase the project's budget, which grew to $40–45 million — a third of which was spent on the effects. The shooting schedule was only 63 days. To cut production time by a week, Goldman lent $1 million to engage John Grower's Santa Barbara Studios to develop the digitally produced Hell sequences. The visual effects shot count increased from 77 to over 400, created by 22 companies in the United States, Canada and Japan, requiring 70 people and nearly 11 months to complete. Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) did most of the work, creating 85 shots at a cost of $8.5 million. More than half of the final effects shots were delivered two weeks before the film's debut.
The most difficult sequences to render in the film included the Violator, Spawn's digital cape, and some of Spawn's transformations. Visual effects supervisor 'Spaz' Williams, with his previous experience of creating the T. Rex in Jurassic Park, was responsible for realizing the reptilian Violator. Working with KNB EFX Group over several months they created a small 24-inch reference model, as well as a full size 11-foot model for use in some of the practical shots. The small model was cut up and laser scanned, the data was then used by a team at ILM to create a digital armature of the creature, and to paint and give texture to the digital model. Only then could the character be animated, after which the work had to be converted to regular film stock. Further work was needed to integrate the footage with the rest of the scene, such as matching the lighting and grain of the other footage. The final shot of The Violator was delivered on July 21, 1997. A team at ILM supervised by Christopher Hery and Habib Zargarpour modelled, animated and rendered realistic looking robes, glass elements and a computer generated Spawn. Originally intended as one long shot, the scene was later recut and extended.
Differences from the comic Terry Fitzgerald, Al Simmons' best friend before his death, is black in the comics. In the film, he is white, portrayed by D. B. Sweeney. Todd McFarlane explained that this change was made by the studio to avoid having too many black leads, as they believed this would give the false impression that film's target audience was the African American demographic.
In the comics, Al Simmons' murderer is Chapel, a character created by Rob Liefeld for the comic Youngblood. Jessica Priest, a character created for the film, took Chapel's place in the movie. The comic book's storyline was later retconned so that original character, Jessica Priest, would take his place while Al's killer was Jason Wynn. Chapel's involvement was forgotten.
Release Theatrical The original cut of Spawn earned an R rating from the Motion Picture Association of America resulting in the producers toning down the violence in the film to get a PG-13 rating.
Home media The film was released on VHS on May 5, 1998 in a PG-13 version and an R-rated Director's Cut version, a "Making of Spawn" featurette, and an interview with Todd MacFarlane. The Director's Cut version was released on DVD on January 9, 1998 and on Blu-ray on July 10, 2012.
Reception Box office Spawn was released on August 1, 1997. It grossed $19,738,749 that opening weekend, ranking it second behind Air Force One. For its second weekend, the film dropped to number three in the box office, reflecting a decreased earnings of 54.7% and a gross of $8,949,953. The film grossed $54.9 million in the United States and Canada and $32.9 million internationally, grossing $87.9 million worldwide against a production budget between $40–45 million.
Critical response On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 17% based on 47 reviews, with an average rating of 3.9/10. The website's critics consensus states: "Spawn is an overbearing, over-violent film that adds little to the comic book adaptation genre." On Metacritic it has a weighted average score of 34 out of 100 based on 17 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.
One of the few positive reviews was from Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times, who awarded the film 3½ out of 4 stars. He wrote that the film's plot was "sappy" and little more than a set-up for some of the most innovative effects of the era, so much that Spawn verged on surrealistic art film. Ebert ended his review with, "As a visual experience, Spawn is unforgettable." Gene Siskel, his At the Movies co-host disagreed, and said the film lost him a mere two minutes after its introduction. Ebert praised the hellscape imagery and accused Siskel of being dismissive because of the genre, but having liked Batman, Siskel was unconvinced.Siskel & Ebert At the movies Season 11, Episode 47, Week of August 2, 1997 David Kaplan of Newsweek called the film "the summer's most spectacular concoction of visual effects and color" but said that those unfamiliar with the comics might find the story difficult to follow.
Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle criticized the weak story, and called the film a visual assault, "is all about style, which will appeal to some viewers and overwhelm most others". Of the cast LaSalle says only John Leguizamo stands out, his "zaniness seems in tune with the action" and he is "lucky enough to have a flashy part".