Editor's Note: This article was updated March 14, 2024.
The original film adaptation of The Crow was released nearly thirty years ago, on May 11, 1994. Alex Proyas' film was based on James O'Barr's comic book series of the same name, and the movie went on to create an enduring legacy. The story focuses on musician Eric Draven, who returns from the dead as The Crow to avenge the deaths of him and his fiancee against some local thugs.
The plot material is dark, swirling around multiple tragedies on screen and off. James O'Barr was inspired to create his The Crow comic series after the death of his own fiancee after being killed by a drunk driver), and the infamous real-life tragedy on the set of The Crow makes the fictional heartbreaking story on screen all the more painful.
Brandon Lee gives a star-making performance as The Crow's Eric Draven, but he tragically died on set a week before production wrapped. The 1994 movie feels like a gritty '90s graphic novel come to life, and the sadness of it all permeates. Originally published in June of 1994, FANGORIA #133 features in-depth behind-the-scenes coverage of The Crow and a tribute to the late Brandon Lee. You can read the issue for free in our archives.
The Crow blends genres; though it's dark, for my money, it is also one of the most romantic movies ever made. There are elements of horror and suspense, along with a healthy dose of action and crime thriller elements. It's become a cult classic for good reason.
The Crow soundtrack frequently comes up in "Best Soundtracks of All Time" lists. Featuring the likes of The Cure and Nine Inch Nails, it is very much of the time, existing as a perfect time capsule in fourteen tracks. This was the age of soundtracks as an event. The CD counterpart to a movie was nearly as exciting as the movie itself. This movie and soundtrack in particular, defined, inspired, and spawned a devoted following and subculture of its own. Every '90s goth will tell you how The Crow (and its music) shaped them in one way or another.
Anticipation Surrounding The Crow Reboot
Several sequels to The Crow have been made, though none achieved the success of the original. At one point, Rob Zombie threw his hat in the ring with a concept for The Crow 3, as did Matt Greenberg. Michael Gingold goes more in depth on both of those unrealized concepts in an exclusive interview with Greenberg. The third installment that was ultimately produced, The Crow: Salvation, was released in 2000 with Eric Mabius in the role of Eric Draven and also starring Kirsten Dunst. But we'd be really curious to see a Rob Zombie take on a Crow sequel!
In 2016, Jason Momoa was attached to The Crow reboot project as Eric Draven, with Corin Hardy set to direct. By 2018, that project was scrapped, but we have this test footage from The Crow that never was.
Anticipation for a reboot has been tempered, after years of false starts, fans began to wonder if an actual reboot was a real possibility.
The Crow Release Date
After roughly fifteen years of false starts and development limbo, The Crow reboot has a release date of June 7, 2024. The Crow wrapped principal photography in September 2022, with limited updates leaving audiences apprehensive about whether this was really happening. But we're here to tell you it is, in fact, a real movie, and yes, The Crow remake is still happening, and we will be able to watch it in theaters this summer.
Up until now, the marketing and promotion around The Crow reboot has been pretty secretive. Not so much a less is more approach, but more like a "don't share anything at all" approach. The release date was announced without any sort of teaser, trailer or sneak peek. No sooner had I written that the only images shared so far have been fan-created art, highlighting what Bill Skarsgård might look like in the iconic Crow makeup than the official first-look photos hit my inbox.
The end of February delivered first-look photos of Bill Skarsgård as The Crow and FKA Twigs as Shelly Winters. And if you think Skarsgård's look is reminiscent of Post Malone, that's because it was intentionally designed to be. Director Ruper Sanders shared, "That look was me in the '90s when we were squat-raving in London, [mixed with some modern influences] like Post Malone and Lil Peep. I hope people who are 19 today look at him and go, 'That guy is us.'" And as Fango's Scott Wampler pointed out, "This version of The Crow looks a bit more like Jared Leto's Joker than we may have been expecting, but they've certainly got the 'moody goth' part down."
The Crow Reboot Cast
In April of 2022, Bill Skarsgård was announced to lead the project in the role of Eric Draven. Skarsgård is on a roll with his horror roles, he's been a part of some of the best horror films in recent memory. Following his turn as Pennywise in Andrés Muschietti's It and It Chapter Two, and Zach Cregger's Barbarian with a Marion Crane-style surprise, Skarsgård will take to the big screen as our favorite goth anti-hero.
But Bill Skarsgård's horror journey has not been limited to big-screen features. Skarsgård also starred in the horror series Hemlock Grove and Stephen King's Castle Rock. Skarsgård also stars in another of the most anticipated horror movies of 2024 — the upcoming re-imagining of Nosferatu from Robert Eggers. It's safe to say the body of Bill Skarsgård movies and TV shows is definitely solidifying him as a modern horror icon with a resume quickly stacking up with non-conventional roles.
And one more honorable mention on the Skarsgård resume — not quite horror, but a wildly off-the-wall genre entry, Boy Kills World is another Bill Skarsgård movie that breaks out of the conventional. We spoke with Boy Kills World director Moritz Mohr, who shared with us the lengths Skarsgård went to in order to play the role of Boy, and it's safe to say Skarsgård is a bonafide action star.
British singer/songwriter/dancer turned actor FKA Twigs is confirmed to star opposite Bill Skarsgård in the role of Shelly Winters, Eric Dravens' murdered fiancee. FKA Twigs has previously appeared in Honey Boy in 2019 and The King's Man in 2021. Isabella Wei will appear as Zadie. Danny Huston, Laura Birn, Sami Bouajila, and Jordan Bolger round out the cast in currently unknown roles.
Filming Details
Getting a Crow reboot off the ground proved to be difficult. Wampler described it as "Tossing a small army of directors, writers, and would-be stars at the project in the hopes that one of them might make it over the starting line. Time and time again these projects fizzled out, and for a while there it seemed like The Crow was destined never to take flight on the big screen again.
But then, against all odds, director Rupert Sanders stepped up to the plate with a new script written by Zach Baylin and Will Schneider, Bill Skarsgård signed on to headline the film as the titular anti-hero, and the goddamn movie finally got made."
The Crow was shot on location in Prague and Munich, which may just lend itself to a gorgeous, moody atmosphere.
The Crow Reboot Plot
The Crow reboot looks to closely follow the original narrative. As was the case in Alex Proyas' original adaptation, the new version of The Crow will be based on the iconic James O'Barr comic series of the same name. Eric Draven returns from the dead to take revenge on the thugs who murdered him and his fiancee. The official synopsis reads, "A modern re-imagining of the beloved character, The Crow, based on the original graphic novel by James O'Barr."
Updated: We now have a longer synopsis for The Crow reboot:
Soulmates Eric Draven (Skarsgård) and Shelly Webster (FKA twigs) are brutally murdered when the demons of her dark past catch up with them. Given the chance to save his true love by sacrificing himself, Eric sets out to seek merciless revenge on their killers, traversing the worlds of the living and the dead to put the wrong things right.
While there may be some modifications, it sounds like the overall plot will, for the most part, be closely tied to the original movie and O'Barr's original source material. If the first-look images and Sanders' comments on Eric Draven's new look are any indication, those modern re-imagining details seem to apply more to the aesthetic, designed to appeal to younger audiences.
Directorial Approach
British filmmaker Rupert Sanders, previously directed Snow White and the Huntsman and the live-action film based on Ghost in the Shell. Having previously helmed an adaptation of a manga series, he's no stranger to stepping into the director's chair for a graphic novel adaptation.
While The Crow sequels The Crow: City of Angels, The Crow: Salvation, and The Crow: Wicked Prayer feature the superhero entity of "The Crow," the powers are given to new characters, with no inclusion of Eric Draven. This reboot will be the first time an actor steps into the role of Eric Draven since Brandon Lee's iconic performance.
Here's what director Rupert Sanders had to say about his take on The Crow:
What Alex Proyas did with the Crow in 1994 - and Brandon Lee's iconic embodiment of that character - will forever impact that generation and others to follow. It was a culture-defining film that is beloved to this day and has inspired many other iterations both inside and outside the Crow Universe.
That film sparked a fire with the youth of that day, a youth who grew up on hard, alternative rock, punk and metal, that binged on MTV and zines. It held a mirror to that generation in the aesthetic of the film, its smoky, rain-drenched streets, stylized and subverted sets, its leather-clad hero and chain wielding villains. It expressed its time in a very specific, music-driven vision, that spoke to a young audience who had never been spoken to in that way. It became a cult classic.
Our interpretation of James’ work also reflects this young generation, whose tastes and references have changed so dramatically from the original film. Hopefully it speaks to them in their language, with their style and music and hopefully will get them to discover Alex Proyas' film and James O’Barr’s graphic novel, bringing a new audience to the source material.
Fan Expectations
In 2020, The Crow original creator James O'Barr shared his sentiment on the reboot: "That reboot thing has been going on for almost 12 years now with different studios trying to make it. To me, it's not necessary. The Crow still holds up remarkably well. For a 10 million dollar film, it looks astonishing… it seems kind of pointless if you're just going to be repetitious."
Some fans share the sentiment as well, but with Bill Skarsgård in the lead, there's a good amount of folks who are curious to see what he can do with the role.
It's no secret that The Crow has a devoted fanbase. Lionsgate's EVP Acquisitions and Co-Productions, Charlotte Koh, shared via Deadline that they were taking that seriously. "We appreciate what the Crow character and original movie mean to legions of fans and believe this new film will offer audiences an authentic and visceral reinterpretation of its emotional power and mythology."
The Crow Trailer
Updated: On March 14, we got our first official trailer for The Crow remake, with Bill Skarsgård stepping into the iconic role of Eric Draven. A little over a week after catching our first glimpse of Skarsgård as The Crow, we get to see him in action. Admittedly, the trailer looks less moody and gothic than its '94 original predecessor. It still goes heavy on the action, but the overall vibe gives hints of a paranormal John Wick. Watch The Crow trailer below.
Counting Down to The Crow
Every time a new reboot or remake is announced, it seems social media erupts (those first-look images certainly ate up the timeline), and both pro and anti-remake defenders take up arms behind their keyboards. There are those who believe certain stories should not be touched, and others who contend a remake doesn't take anything away from the original, arguing it may even bring new fans to the original work and expand its audience. Regardless of which side of the fence you're on, The Crow reboot exists, and it will be in theaters this June.
Bill Skarsgård has proven himself an interesting performer to watch, with an equally intriguing career as he continues to choose roles that go a bit out of the box and challenge his skills. And he continues to impress.
Brandon Lee leaves some massive Crow wings to fill, and there will never be a replacement, but we're intrigued to see what Skarsgård does with the Draven character and where the director takes this modern re-imagining. However you feel about the reboot after viewing, you can't change the fact that real love is forever - and we'll always have the 1994 version to revisit as often as we'd like.
