The Crow Movie Concept Art Featuring Tom Hiddleston, Luke Evans Surfaces

Since the 1994 original feature film The Crow, multiple attempts have been made to turn the successful film adaptation of James O’Barr’s comic into a full blown franchise. Three feature films, two television shows, and a video game later, no one had realized that the first movie with the late Brandon Lee was lightning in a bottle. The lesson still hasn’t been learned as attempts to reboot the property once again have been in the works without fail for over a decade now. Previous versions of the reboot had tapped stars like Tom Hiddleston and Luke Evans to play the lead, but like all the other attempts since then they failed to materialize. Now however we have a glimpse of what might have been.

Bloody Disgusting has two pieces of concept art from these versions of the reboot that were attempted, each featuring Hiddleston and Evans in the iconic makeup of the titular character. Both actors involvement in the project came while director F. Javier Gutierrez (Rings) and screenwriter Cliff Dorfman (Warrior) were attached, with the former telling the outlet in a statement: “We tried to make it as faithful to the graphic novel as possible. Grounded, and with attention to detail (I wanted to show the scar). (makeup designer Bill Corso) is brilliant, and did an amazing job.” You can find the concept art by clicking here.

“I really wish, as an artist, that we got to bring that forward in the world,” Dorfman said in the site’s larger piece on the failed attempts at rebooting The Crow. “That my kid got to go see it. That it was a new generation that could now go experience The Crow in this real purist form with Mr. O’Barr involved. What I would love to get across to all the fans is how much Javi, and myself, and Mr. Pressman respect and love them, because we are them.”

It was previously reported that, despite yet another mass exodus from the project after actor Jason Momoa and director Corin Hardy walked away, a studio is once again developing The Crow for the big screen. Last year came word that Sony Pictures was putting its efforts into retooling the idea for a franchise reboot, placing the project back into active development. No one has become attached to the project in the years since but like so many other projects that linger in development hell, The Crow will continue to make headlines as new creatives become involved and try to make it happen.