Since news of a Spider-Man film reboot became official, we've been inundated with commentary from the movie and comic industry populace. The latest person to speak out about the project is truly a legend to comic fans. Not only did he make his original character Spawn a hit; but his work on Spider-Man, including the creation of Venom, is still beloved by many readers.
MTV News got the chance to catch up with the comic icon at Toy Fair 2010 and asked him why he thinks the Spider-Man film franchise is receiving the reboot treatment:
"I'm going to take a guess that the reboot is driven mostly by business and economics. There's a bit of a diminishing return on movies." He went on the explain,
"You go, 'Look we can spend $300 million on this movie and make $500 million at the box office, or we can spend $120 [million] and make $500 million, we have a built-in audience that's going to come, even if all they're coming for is to say, 'This cant be as good because the budget isn't quite as big.' They're still going to come."
McFarlane is no stranger to the Hollywood mechanism. His
Spawn TV series for HBO is considered one of the best comic adaptations to date. The Spawn film. . . not so much. He's definitely familiar with what's important (and also unnecessary) to include in a comic adaptation. What element would he most like to see incorporated in the new Spidey film? You guessed it. . .
"I'd like to see Venom back, as someone who co-created him," he said.
"I would've always made him bigger and hunched over, make him a little more formidable. He's a little more Hulk-ish to me, not just a guy who's been to the gym."
"I always think that when you have a hero, the bad guy should be very tough in terms of the battle, and not necessarily a contemporary. That's too easy. It should be somebody that makes you go, 'Wow! They're five times stronger, five times bigger — how is the hero ever going to beat them up?'"
Make sure to check out the video below to hear more of McFarlane's thoughts on the process it takes to bring a comic character to the screen.
Information and video courtesy of MTV