Caffeinated Clint
Happy as a pig in shit with this latest update on Hollywood’s unyielding, exhaustive mission to ‘remake’ Alex Proyas’s “The Crow” (1994). In a report over at Heat Vision, in which the trade reports the transfer of the film property from Relativity Studios to Davis Films, Highland Film Group and Electric Shadow, the movie is referred to as – for the first time – “The Crow Reborn”.
Considering what a love letter that original movie is to the late Brandon Lee – particularly considering what tragic events went down during production – it’s great to see the producers stepping away, if even meekly, from a full-blown redo. The new title suggests the film mightn’t so much be a straight-up xerox of the cult classic, as it will be a sequel or film set within the same universe. Even if it is Eric Draven they’re using again (and it’s long been rumoured that they are; though the change of ownership in the title suggests that the template may change), good to see they’re no longer giving us the impression they’re adding white-out to Proyas’s film and just writing a new version over the top of it – “Crow Reborn” suggests a continuation of earlier events or a whole new thing. Take “Watchers Reborn” (1998), for example, it was a continuation of the classic “Watchers” … even though it’s storyline very closely mirrored events in the predecessor. So I do hope this is what’s happening here – something similar but not the same, with a title that doesn’t even pretend to be Brandon’s film.
“Aquaman” star Jason Momoa was last attached to play the title role in the film (following half-a-dozen or so others that flirted with the role) and considering he looks more, well, nightclub bouncer or 18th century medieval warrior than the title character in James O’Barr’s original comic (and nothing like Brandon Lee), chances are it’s always been the plan to reboot the series with an all-new character, albeit one that could be linked to Draven.
Edward R. Pressman and Samuel Hadida will produce the new film, which was originally set to lens in January of next year but, with these changes in brass, will likely move it’s start date back a couple of months.
On a personal note, please don’t touch the soundtrack of the original – particularly, Jane Sibbery’s It Can’t Rain All The Time , it serves as a beautiful musical rose atop of Lee’s cinematic grave.
