‘The Crow’ Remake Finally Takes Flight

Since before there was ever a ScreenCrush (which means at least 10 years now) there has been talk of a remake/reboot of The Crow. A stroll through the ScreenCrush archives will reveal articles about Tom Hiddleston possibly playing the title role, or Luke Evans becoming the Crow, or a period where Corin Hardy became the director, or Jason Momoa looking into the project pre-Aquaman, or a moment where the whole project got resurrected at Sony after falling apart at Relativity Media, and then the moment a little while later when that project collapsed too.

So keep all that in mind when I say this: Someone is making a new version of The Crow. Like, I am sure they absolutely intend to. Maybe they will! But there’s also lots of reason to be a little skeptical about ever actually seeing it.

If you do see it, this version of The Crow, released by Lionsgate, is set to be directed by Rupert Sanders and star Bill Skarsgard as the newest version of the title character. In the 1994 film, based on the comics by James O’Barr, the Crow — AKA Eric Draven — was played by the late Brandon Lee. Draven is a musicians who is brought back to life to avenge his own murder, and the murder of his fiancée. (In the remake, FKA Twigs plays Draven’s fiancée.)

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Lee was tragically killed on the set of The Crow when a prop gun fired a dummy cartridge that had been placed into the weapon in an early scene, and then became lodged inside the gun without anyone noticing. The Crow was then completed with his stand-in (Chad Stahelski, who went on to become the director of the John Wick series) subbing in for Lee in the remaining handful sequences to be shot. The Crow went on to become a significant hit in theaters and on home video, and launched a whole film franchise, although none of the sequels came close to eclipsing the original.

Lionsgate’s Charlotte Koh had this to say about the new project:

We appreciate what The Crow character and original movie mean to legions of fans and believe this new film will offer audiences an authentic and visceral reinterpretation of its emotional power and mythology … To work with a creative team led by Rupert’s unparalleled visual style and storytelling and with a producing team who have made some of the most popular and impactful films of the last several decades is a true privilege.

The project cannot get underway until the resolution of the writers and actors strikes in Hollywood. And even after that, you’ll forgive me for taking a wait-and-see approach to this movie. The creative team and cast seems good! But I could have said that before about a bunch of different versions of The Crow that never made it to the screen.