If there’s anything you can count on, it’s that Hollywood is never too far away from making yet another Crow reboot announcement. This time around, Bill Skarsgård (It’s Pennywise the Dancing Clown) is attached to don Eric Draven’s harlequin makeup, marking the end of Jason Momoa’s tenure of trying to get The Crow remade. There should be a Pope-like smoke signal every time actors pass this baton.
With Skarsgård set to star, Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders is at the helm, with a script from Zach Baylin (who was recently up for an Oscar for King Richard). Things do seem to be moving pretty quickly, as the Hollywood Reporter notes there’s a production start date set for June. It’s not entirely surprising due to the recent surge of goth sad boi vigilantes. And that’s because vengeance seekers like The Batman and Moon Knight have definite links in their DNA to Alex Proyas’ 1994 take on The Crow.
Proyas’ adaptation of the seminal James O. Barr comic follows the tale of Eric Draven, a man who returns from the dead (with the help of a supernatural crow entity) intent on avenging his beloved fiancée after they were both brutally murdered on Halloween. Proyas’ stylish, neo-noir adaptation has become a cult classic; it’s got supernatural horror elements, heavy drama, biting humour, and lots of heart. It was also ahead of its time in grounding a dark comic book hero in a grounded and gritty real world — and it has a notorious real-world tragedy hanging over it, since star Brandon Lee was accidentally killed during filming due to prop negligence. (Also, its 1990s soundtrack was killer then and now.)
The list of other actors who have been attached to a reboot of this property over the years, besides Momoa, includes Mark Wahlberg, Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Channing Tatum, Tom Hiddleston, Luke Evans, and probably more. We’re not holding our breath for this one, folks, and once again, we have to ask: do we really need a Crow reboot at all? What do you think Skarsgård and Saunders’ chances are of making this thing actually fly?