The Crow Reboot Is Revived With Bill Skarsgard

The Crow looks to finally be coming back from the dead, as The Hollywood Reporter revealed that a new adaptation of the comic is moving forward with Bill Skarsgård as Eric Draven. Rupert Sanders, who delivered audiences Snow White and the Huntsman and Ghost in the Shell, is slated to direct the picture from a script by Zach Baylin, who recently wrote the Oscar-nominated King Richard. There is currently no release date, but the project will reportedly head into production this summer, with the outlet noting that the project is deep into pre-production and will sport a production budget in the $50 million range.

This news is sure to draw mixed reactions from audiences, as some will surely be excited to see the franchise take flight, while others will be disappointed that the new take on the material will recreate the storyline of the original comic and 1994 movie.

The story focused on Draven, who is resurrected from the dead a year after he and his fiancéewere killed by a local gang, with supernatural abilities allowing him to enact vengeance on his tormentors. Subsequent stories and cinematic sequels used the otherworldly spirit of “The Crow” to allow other figures to return from the dead while seeking justice.

Brandon Lee starred as Draven in the original film and, tragically, passed away following an on-set incident. The project was set to be a star-making turn for Lee, with the film going on to earn a passionate cult following. The film earned three sequels, though none of them managed to capture the charm and appeal of the debut installment.

In recent years, a variety of reports have emerged about a possible revival, with stars like Bradley Cooper and Tom Hiddleston both being names that were rumored to be in talks for the role. The most substantial progress on a reboot, however, was with Jason Momoa to star, from The Nun director Corin Hardy. Sadly, despite Momoa’s star power, the project still failed to leave the nest and was scrapped.

Despite that iteration being scrapped, it’s possible that, with momentum behind this endeavor, Hardy and Momoa could reunite to deliver that story at some point in the future.

“It’s a story that I’m just in love with and wedded towards and I put three and a half, four years of life into and love and blood and sweat and tears, and I have a ton of materials, so I don’t know whether one day … I suppose I’m not really wanting to show them because I still believe there will be a Crow sometime, but we’ll see,” Hardy confirmed with ComicBook.com last year. “I do think both James O’Barr’s original Crow graphic novel and the subsequent other iterations of that character in the comic books, there’s no reason not to do a lot more with that character, the concept of The Crow, the mythology of The Crow, and the tone and what that represents is still unique within the world we’re in at the moment.”  

Stay tuned for details on The Crow.  

Are you excited about this project? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!