iHorror wrote:Luke Evans To Star in The Crow Reboot

This year marks the 20th anniversary of The Crow; and 21 years since the tragic death of Brandon Lee. In case you’ve been living under a rock, The Crow is based on the graphic novel series written by James O’Barr. It follows the story of a young man who is brutally murdered and comes back to life as an undead avenger for him and his deceased fiance.

Now, by this point, many of us are sick of hearing about reboots/remakes of our favorite movies. While some could use a new spark of life given the new technology of film; some stand on their own and should just not be toyed with. I have to admit that when i first heard about this, I moaned a huge WHY and just shrugged it off as another Hollywood Greed flick. Mainly for the fact that in my mind, Brandon Lee will always and forever be Eric Draven. The follow up movies were mediocre at best; not capturing the magic Lee had brought to the character. After doing a bit of research on the upcoming reboot, i began to rethink the idea of a brand new movie. We can still treasure the original, while embracing a new version for the new generation.

While there is no current release date, the film is set to shoot this year. Directed by F. Javier Gutierrez and written by Cliff Dorfman, James O’Barr, Alex Tse and Jessie Wigutow; Originally talks were with Mark Whalberg to take on the character of Draven. He has since dropped out of the project and recast with Luke Evans. Evans has starred in such movies as Clash of the Titans, Fast and Furious 6, and most recently The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. According to sources from TotalFilm and JoBlo, this is what Evans had to say about the upcoming version:dracula_luke_evans_photo1

“What we want to do is tell the story and bring parts of the original source material into the film that was not done the first time around… There’s an awful lot, and there’s characters that were never put in the first movie. We’re trying to keep it as true to the original story as possible, and we have a fantastic team of people on it.” He described F. Javier Gutiérrez as “a wonderful, wonderful, sensitive director who cares so much about telling the story rightly and beautifully and sensitively. We just want to be as authentic and loyal to the original comic and that means the story will be different. It will be different from what people are expecting. It’s not about ripping off the Brandon Lee movie. That stands alone as a piece of brilliant cult film and a great performance. But we’re going back to the book, the original book and that’s exciting because we’re bringing to the screen a lot of parts of the story that were never really told. It’s our chance to do it differently, but as loyal and respectful of the original storyline as we possible can.”

Luke Evans has certainly put it in perspective for me. I can only hope that what he says is forthright. There is no denying his talent as an actor. So i have complete faith that he can bring some greatness to the franchise along with 21st century technology. Only time will tell.

DH wrote:"Crow" Creator Approves The Reboot

"The Crow" creator James O'Barr has given an in-depth interview with Korsgaards Commentary where the topic of the upcoming cinematic reboot of the property came up. O'Barr is a consultant on the project which is aiming to be more loyal to the comics than other recent screen interpretations:

"[W]e're not remaking the movie. We're readapting the book. My metaphor is that there is a Bela Lugosi 'Dracula' and there's a Francis Ford Coppola 'Dracula'. They use the same material, but you still got two entirely different films.

This one's going to be closer to 'Taxi Driver' or a John Woo film, and I think there's room for both of them. Part of the appeal of 'The Crow' comics, after all, is that they can tell very different stories.

If you read the comic, Eric and Shelley never have their last names revealed. Hopefully, this is one area the new movie being more faithful to the comic will come into play, and Eric won't be going by Eric Draven in the new film.

Luke Evans may play Eric, but Brandon Lee will forever be Eric Draven... [N]o one understands that fear more than me. Brandon Lee was a friend and I'd never do anything to hurt his legacy."

O'Barr has seen Evans' look for the film and likes it, and says the studio understands they can't mess this up:

"I think the studio understands that if they want a 'Crow' 'franchise', they have to get it right. We're hoping to begin production later this month, and start shooting in the spring."

O'Barr also says he has control over the film's soundtrack which will include some Joy Division and Cure songs, along with current neo-goth bands. F. Javier Gutierrez is helming the project.

/film wrote:Luke Evans Exits ‘The Crow’ Remake

Over the past couple weeks we’d started to get the idea that Luke Evans would not star in the remake of The Crow after all. Now the actor has officially backed out of the film, thanks to the departure of director F. Javier Gutierrez and the delays and expected script revisions that go along with a new director.

Corin Hardy is that new director, signed a just over a month ago, and he’ll be looking for a new star immediately after Sundance. Hardy’s film The Hallow premiered here at the fest last night, to good reception, and once he does some promotion for that he’ll have to get working on The Crow. According to The Wrap, Evans has officially exited the production, and so one of the first tasks will be to get a new lead.

Last week, Luke Evans had told HitFix,

Right now I’m not sure where it is, I don’t know what’s happening with it… I don’t think it’s gonna be something I’m gonna be doing for awhile. I’ve got about four or five different projects which I’m lining up for this year, which will take up the majority of my 12 months. So not in the near future, unfortunately.

He also suggested that the super faithful approach he and Gutierrez had planned might be out the window now, too.

It’ll be a different concept, a different director, a different script, and who knows where it will go? I mean, when I was in conversations with everybody it was about being as honorable to the book and loyal to the book as possible. And that meant it would be a very different film to the one that was made with Brandon Lee. Which was a good thing in a way. I mean, it wasn’t that we were trying to replicate something. It was, we were gonna go back to the book and be as completely truthful as possible. But who knows where it’ll go? And who knows whether I’ll be playing it or somebody else.

Now we know he won’t be playing it, so the whole thing seems fairly up in the air once again.

iHorror wrote:The Crow Remake May Not Be As Dead As We Thought

Just when we thought we weren’t going to hear anything else pertaining to this reboot for a while, or ever.. News sprung up this morning one month after reported star Luke Evans left the project. Leaving the slot open to the next lucky (or unlucky given the history of the film) actor to take the lead as Eric Draven.

Deadline reported the news first hand that Boardwalk Empire star Jack Houston has been slated to take over the role of the beloved cult comic character. Houston is currently working on the modern day movie version of Ben-Hur, taking the lead role in the movie as well. Not to mention the very much highly anticipated Pride, Prejudice, And Zombies.

The so called “Crow Remake” has long been in developmental hell for years. The studios just can’t seem to get it together what with the massive turnover of directors and actors the film-to-be has gone through. Much like Eric Draven himself, this movie just refuses to die. Sources from the studios claim they will start filming in the Spring with Corin Hardy in the director’s chair and a script written by Cliff Dorfman. Whether or not we have our set lead remains to be seen, as time has told us. In the meantime, let us sit back and wait to see if The Crow will fly once again.

TC wrote:one word: batdance.

/film wrote:Now Jack Huston Has Quit ‘The Crow’ Reboot

Something is really giving Relativity a hard time as it tries to assemble a reboot of The Crow. The film, based on the comic series by James O’Barr which led to the 1994 film starring Brandon Lee, has been in development for years. A dizzying array of directors and actors has been attached to the project in that time. The latest in a very long line of talent departures has just taken place as intended star Jack Huston (Boardwalk Empire) has departed due to “scheduling issues.”

Variety reports that Huston is gone; we don’t know if “scheduling issues” here is a euphemism for “creative difficulties,” which itself is an all-encompassing phrase that says “it wasn’t working.” Or perhaps Huston really couldn’t make the schedule work.

Regardless, Relativity and director Corin Hardy (The Hallow) will seek a new actor to lead the film, and expect to have that person locked in shortly. If things work out, The Crow will begin shooting within weeks.

Prime candidates from their perspective include Nicholas Hoult (X-Men: Days of Future Past, Mad Max: Fury Road) and Jack O’Connell (Starred Up, Unbroken) for the lead role.

Hardy issued a statement that says,

Jack Huston is unfortunately unavailable to continue with us on The Crow. The Crow is an amazing project, and I am grateful that we have the time and patience to get it right. We look forward to unveiling our new lead and starting to film over the next several weeks.

This comes just as Forest Whitaker was also announced as part of the cast, in a report that placed him in Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One as well. We don’t know Whitaker’s potential role in The Crow.

DH wrote:"The Crow" Reboot Is Still Alive?

One of the titles that was apparently killed the other week during the collapse of Relativity Media was that of the long in the works and long troubled reboot of "The Crow" franchise.

Despite its apparent death though, the franchise's creator James O'Barr says the project is still very much alive. Speaking at the Twin Tiers Comic Con in New York State last weekend, O'Barr told ComicBook.com:

"It's still very much a live property. The company, Pressman Films, that owns The Crow film and TV rights, licensed it to a studio named Relativity. And Relativity made like a hundred bad movies and lost money so now they're in financial trouble. So the producers are just going to take it to another studio if Relativity can't get backing again. It's going to happen."

O'Barr has reportedly been in touch with Pressman Films who've advised that the property should be able to find a new studio to call home in the next "two or three weeks" as other distributors are apparently keen on it.

Luke Evans, Jack Huston, Nicholas Hoult and Jack O'Connell were the most recent people linked to playing the title character but there's zero guarantee of any of them still being in contention.

/film wrote:Now ‘The Crow’ Reboot May Lose Director Corin Hardy

Just last month we learned that the reboot of The Crow had hit a huge speed bump as Relativity Media had declared bankruptcy. While someone at Relativity was hoping to still push forward and move into production, an entire production team and several heads of department left the project, stalling pre-production.

Now the project is facing another problem as director Corin Hardy is on the verge of leaving the project thanks to the bankruptcy filing putting a halt on the project and creating some legal problems for the company. Find out more about Corin Hardy leaving The Crow below.

Due to the bankruptcy filing, The Wrap reports Relativity is gathering the studio assets to prepare for a sale of the company, but producer Edward R. Pressman has filed an objection to the company’s inclusion of The Crow as one of their assets.

While the studio has invested $7 million in the project so far, which includes the options to acquire and maintaint he property’s sequel, prequel and remake rights, Pressman doesn’t think Relativity can follow through with the contractual obligation to still finance the film and release it, and therefore it shouldn’t be counted among Relativity’s assets when determining a sale price.

The filing estimates that in order to release the film on no less than 1,000 screens, Relativity needs somewhere between $10 million and $12 million to make that happen. And since the company just filed for bankruptcy, they’re not likely to have the money to follow through on their obligations.

Pressman further says that the project is “in danger of losing the services of the director of the picture … who is widely regarded as a key creative element. Thus, the production of the picture is imploding even as the time to make the picture is running out under the Crow contract.” The rights to The Crow revert back to Pressman in 18 months if principal photography doesn’t happen before that deadline arrives.

Considering the fact that The Crow currently doesn’t have a star since the exit of Jack Huston left them without a lead, and now Corin Hardy may be on the way out the door, it sounds like Relativity won’t be able to get The Crow off the ground at all. Pressman filed the objection because he doesn’t want Relativity to have it among their assets unless they can follow through on their previous contractual agreement. Meanwhile, Relativity has turned down several studio and financing offers, believing that this is the most valuable property they have to potentially keep them afloat in the future.

No matter what happens here, this isn’t good news for The Crow, and I wouldn’t count on seeing a new adaptation of the graphic novel by James O’Barr anytime soon. This property has had plenty of setbacks over the years, which is surely a bummer for fans who want to see a new take on the property, but this just goes to show you how rough the movie business is right now.