Comic book adaptations were in a strange place in 1994. Properties were usually adapted extremely loosely, with little heed paid to the original comics beyond the basic concept. This made Alex Proyas’ moody and gothic The Crow a real eye-opener.
It was a firmly adult-orientated supernatural revenge thriller, featuring an iconic soundtrack boasting the likes of The Cure, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Rage Against the Machine and Stone Temple Pilots that went triple platinum. The film is also sadly notorious for the death of star Brandon Lee during production, who was killed in a freak accident involving a prop gun.
Now, the story is being remade as The Crow Reborn, and is set to star the hunkier-than-hunky Jason Momoa. It’s also just been confirmed for an October 11th, 2019 release date.
The remake, set to be directed by Corin Hardy (who previously did the excellent The Hallow), is reportedly intended to hew very closely to the plot of James O’Barr’s original comic. While that’s certainly exciting to hear, the project’s announcement last year brought with it a fair amount of controversy. Alex Proyas took to Facebook to plead with the studio to not go through with the remake in order to respect Brandon Lee’s memory, saying “Hollywood should just let it remain a testament to a man’s immense talent and ultimate sacrifice.”
It’s a noble sentiment, albeit slightly undermined by the fact that the franchise has already expanded to sequels in the form of City of Angels, Stairway to Heaven, Salvation and Wicked Prayer (all of which are absolutely terrible, incidentally). Still, grinning muscle-bound charisma-machine Jason Momoa is perhaps an odd choice to play the grief-wracked ultra-goth Eric Draven, brought back from the dead to avenge his murdered girlfriend. At least he’s got a good line in characters that wear a lot of eyeshadow, though.
More on The Crow Reborn as it surfaces.