'The Crow' Reboot Starts Production In Early 2018

Recent reports confirm that The Crow reboot will be coming back from the dead, as the series creator, James O'Barr, claims that pre-production is aimed to begin in February of 2018 with director Corin Hardy.

"As of right now, it's slated to start pre-production in February with a very talented British director named Corin Hardy," O'Barr told ScreenGeek at Los Angeles Comic Con. "I'm involved in every aspect of the film and working closely with the director."

The original The Crow debuted over 20 years ago and, in the time since, has gained a dedicated cult following. The film was lauded not only for its darker interpretation of a comic book story, but also for the star-making performance of Brandon Lee.

Making the film all the more memorable, albeit tragic, was the on-set malfunction of a firearm that resulted in the accidental death of Lee. Despite Lee's death, the film spawned three sequels, the most recent two having been relegated to straight-to-video releases.

The franchise might have disappeared from the public's eye in recent years, but the core concept is rife with possibilities, especially given audiences' interest in comic book adaptations that have nothing to do with Marvel or DC.

The reboot has a long and complicated history, with a variety of different actors and filmmakers attached to it. Bradley Cooper, Jack Huston and Luke Evans have all been attached to star at one point, although they all eventually abandoned the project.

In its most recent iteration, Jason Momoa was attached to star, but with his work on DC films making for a hectic schedule, it's unclear if Momoa is still attached to the upcoming iteration.

Speaking to Forbes earlier this year, executive producer F. Javier Guiterrez, who was at one point attached to direct, offered this update:

"With The Crow, I haven't talked to them in a while so I don't know what is going on with that, but we are going to do an R-rated movie. I come from Europe, I'm very dark so I'm going to go for it. If any movie has to be R-rated then it's The Crow.

"That's how I got James O'Barr, the creator of The Crow, involved in the project because he said that if R-rated is the way that I wanted to go, he's in. Even though I'm not directing it now, when I was going to be doing that I explained to the producers that they had to read and understand the comic book and not make the film a PG-13 version because it would make no sense.

"Some movies are for young people, I get it and maybe you can do it, but this movie is not necessarily for those young people and toning it down would give you a ghost of what The Crow should be."

Stay tuned for any details about what's next for The Crow.

[H/T ScreenGeek]