Stephen Norrington will write and direct a new version of
The Crow, based on the comic created by James O'Barr.
According to
Variety, Ryan Kavanaugh's Relativity Media is negotiating with producer Ed Pressman to acquire the film franchise and finance the film.
Pressman produced the 1994 Alex Proyas-directed screen transfer, in which rock musician Eric Draven is murdered trying to rescue his girlfriend from thugs, and returns from the dead one year later to exact vengeance. Though the original became a gothic-style hit that grossed nearly $100 million worldwide, it is primarily remembered for a tragic accident in which star Brandon Lee was killed during filming.
For Norrington,
The Crow deal marks the end of a long screen sabbatical. After making his breakthrough with the Marvel Comics hero
Blade, Norrington took on a big-budget comic transfer with
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Neither the director nor his star, Sean Connery, has made a film since.
Norrington said he felt demoralized by that experience, and the accomplished sculptor spent the next five years writing and working on his art. He made a deal to direct
Clash of the Titans for Warner Bros., but left the project, he said, because he was "unable to excite Warner Bros. with my take, or influence the screenplay to any comfortable extent." That pic goes into production early next year with Louis Leterrier at the helm.
Norrington resolved to focus on independent projects, and sparked to an approach on
The Crow from Relativity production chief Tucker Tooley and Pressman. Norrington had a relationship with Pressman when they came close to making
The Mutant Chronicles several years ago. Both embraced Norrington's vision of the antihero, which Norrington said will be different than the film Proyas made.
"Whereas Proyas' original was gloriously gothic and stylized, the new movie will be realistic, hard-edged and mysterious, almost documentary-style," Norrington said.
No production date has been set.
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37 Comments
58 Comments
This is almost a slap in the face to Brandon Lee. I cannot deny, though, the fact that I WILL be seeing the reboot, but by no means am I happy about this. AT ALL.
If this movie goes forward I would prefer to see an unknown play Eric.
To agree with tyler13d, Marvel should really focus their energies on adapting "The Man Without Fear" for the screen. ( yes I know the Crow isn't marvel, it was an unrelated comment)
People need to redefine what the words "reboot" and "remake" have in common, and what they don't.
I would say that because the Crow sequels share little or no continuity with the original, true, Crow film (not a favorite of everyone who has read the O'Barr comic, but I have and it is a favorite of mine)
That this movie is not a reBOOT of a series, but a reMAKE of the original, because it depicts Eric (who has no last name), just as the Proyas film did.
I admire their/his (norrington's) efforts if he truly means to create a less gothic crow (However the graphic work was pretty damn stylized, so I don't agree with reducing the stylization of it)
But to me this sounds like little more than a cash cow to appeal to the Hot Topic crowd.