A remake of THE CROW was supposed to start filming in Budapest within the next five weeks, with THE HALLOW director Corin Hardy at the helm and Jason Momoa in the lead role… but that all just fell apart, as Hardy and Momoa have departed the project, while Sony is close to withdrawing from negotiations to be the film's worldwide distributor.
The issue is "creative and financial differences" with Samuel Hadida, whose company Davis Films is financing the project and holds the rights to THE CROW. Although it was announced several months ago that Sony would be distributing the film, and even though they had already scheduled an October 11, 2019 release date, that distribution deal has never been officially closed.
Based on the comic book series created by James O'Barr, the first (and for now only) version of THE CROW was directed by Alex Proyas and released in 1994. It had the following synopsis:
The night before his wedding, musician Eric Draven (Brandon Lee) and his fiancée are brutally murdered by members of a violent inner-city gang. On the anniversary of their death, Eric rises from the grave and assumes the gothic mantle of the Crow, a supernatural avenger. Tracking down the thugs responsible for the crimes and mercilessly murdering them, Eric eventually confronts head gangster Top Dollar (Michael Wincott) to complete his macabre mission.
Following the production of three sequels (each about a different resurrected character), a remake was first announced in late 2008 and has been languishing in development hell for almost ten years now. Multiple screenwriters have come and gone, scripts have been written and tossed aside, studios have gone bankrupt, and the project has passed through the hands of directors like Stephen Norrington, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, and Francisco Javier Gutiérrez. Actors up for the lead role have included Bradley Cooper, Mark Wahlberg, Tom Hiddleston, Luke Evans, and Jack Huston.
Hardy had been attached to direct THE CROW for the last three and a half years.
In the last ten years, "within five weeks of filming" is the closest the remake has ever gotten to happening, but now it's back to the drawing board for this one.
Suddenly even the worst of the CROW sequels is starting to look like a major accomplishment. It actually got made!