Blumhouse Boss Explains Why He’s OK With Todd McFarlane Directing ‘Spawn’

If you know one thing about Blumhouse Productions boss Jason Blum, it’s that the man knows how to finance excellent horror movies. From Hush to Split to Get Out, Blumhouse has built a reputation as a destination for talented low-budget genre filmmakers, and the success of this past year  —  and the studio’s upcoming Halloween sequel  —  should only vault the studio to new heights. Part of what makes this formula work is the studio’s dedication to artistic freedom: while Blum is notorious for his rigid approach to production costs, as long as you are able to deliver under-budget, you’ll be given a chance to make something with your stamp on it.

Perhaps that’s what makes Blumhouse such an obvious partner for Todd McFarlane on his upcoming Spawn adaptation. While other studios might balk at the idea of giving McFarlane creative control over a feature film  —  especially given the fact that McFarlane has only ever directed music videos in the past  —  Blumhouse knows how to balance both risks and rewards. In a recent interview with ComingSoon.net, Blum opened up a bit about McFarlane and why he wasn’t deterred by the director’s inexperience:

I think he’s gonna do a great job. Being a director encompasses a lot of different skills, but one of the most important skills is you have to be a great manager. You’re kind of a General of this army that you have to lead into battle every day, and he does that in his life every day running McFarlane Enterprises. So I think that translates to directing in a lot of ways. We’ve had a great back-and-forth around developing the script. I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t think he could do a great job, but we’ll see. I have a good feeling about it.

So there you have it. Odds are good that Blum has another win-win situation on his hands: even if Spawn is bad, Blumhouse will have kept production costs low enough to ensure that they still make a little money off the name recognition alone. If Spawn is good? They have themselves every studio executive’s dream: an R-rated superhero property at a fraction of the cost of movies like Deadpool. And all they had to do was give McFarlane the opportunity to prove himself behind the camera. Like I said, calculated risks.