The collapse of Relativity Media has directly affected many titles, including Jane Got A Gun and Masterminds, but one could argue that The Crow reboot has been hit the worst. The film has been struggling for years and years through development, regularly losing directors and lead actors, and now it appears as though the floor has dropped out completely. But if you think this is enough to shut the project down completely, you may want to think again.
The Crow creator James O'Barr took part in a panel as part of the Twin Tiers Comic Con in Elmira, NY, and according to ComicBook.com he is saying that the reboot is still alive. Discussing the troubled project, O'Barr gave a bit of a backhanded slap to Relativity, saying,
It’s still very much a live property. The company, Pressman Films, that owns The Crow film and TV rights, licensed it to a studio named Relativity. And Relativity made like a hundred bad movies and lost money so now they’re in financial trouble. So the producers are just going to take it to another studio if Relativity can’t get backing again. It’s going to happen.
O'Barr, who first got his Crow comics published in 1989, added that he has been in contact with the folks at Pressman Films, and that things are moving smoothly. He also said that the property should be able to find a new studio to call home in the next "two or three weeks." Apparently demand from various distributors is high, with the writer/artist saying,
The day Relativity announced that they were having financial problems, there were like a dozen other studios that called about getting The Crow property. It definitely will happen.
The idea of a reboot of The Crow dates back to 2009, when director Stephen Norington was attached to helm... but the movie has undergone many, many changes in the time since then. The project then saw Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and F. Javier Gutierrez come and go before filmmaker Corin Hardy took the wheel. There has also been a rotating door of actors who have been up for the titular role, including Bradley Cooper, Mark Wahlberg, Luke Evans, and Jack Huston. Let's also not forget the time that the film spent being held up by a lawsuit from the Weinstein Company, claiming that Relativity Media had no right to make a reboot for The Crow. Like I was saying earlier, it's been a tough road.
Last we heard, Nicholas Hoult and Jack O'Connell were being considered for the role of Eric Draven in the new adaptation of James O'Barr's comic, but we probably won't be hearing any new developments on that front until The Crow finds a new studio nest. Stay tuned for more details!
