Things are alive in San Diego this weekend, while movies about dead things show signs of both life and death. Relativity Media’s upcoming reboot of The Crow has experienced its fair share of setbacks and delays since its conception, and it has at least one more woe to go through, as it’s been hit with another lawsuit, according to The Hollywood Reporter. On the flip side, Shock Till You Drop revealed the film’s Comic-Con poster, which you can see above. Let’s start with that bit of good news. (It’s good news if you’re looking forward to this reboot, that is.)
The teaser poster obviously draws its connections to the source material, the comic series created by James O’Barr, who is serving as creative consultant for the film, and its director F. Javier Gutierrez tells STYD he promises to stay faithful to that material, but calls it “a new interpretation.” If the trains and horses come into it, that would be pretty fantastic. While a great film, Proyas’ film was stylized darkness piled on top of itself and didn’t really contain the gritty magic of O’Barr’s work. Gutierrez says the film will begin prepping in October, and they hope for a production start in the early months of 2014. I’m more excited about it now than I’ve ever been, but I still have my reservations.
And now we can discuss the albatross hanging around The Crow’s neck. Producer Jeff Most of Jeff Most Productions has filed a $1 million lawsuit claiming breach of contract by Edward R. Pressman Film Corp., Relativity Media, Sammyjack Production and others. This is the second lawsuit the film has had to face in the last couple of years; The Weinstein Company sued Relativity back in 2011, but that was resolved out of court in January 2012. Admittedly, this is a much smaller case than what TWC was bringing.
In the suit, which you can read here thanks to Deadline, claims his contractual rights to get involved with the reboot have been denied. Most and his company have been involved with the film’s increasingly diminishing franchise since Proyas’ film, and he says his company haven’t gotten their profit-sharing statement for the films in over four years, and he wasn’t even properly notified when the distribution rights transferred to Relativity.
He claims that he got a response from Relativity back in May 2012, which stated he would be brought on board as part of his contract, which automatically grants him a salary of $400,000, even if it’s decided another production company would be used. But that was the last time that deal was discussed, and now they aren’t responding to Most at all. Along with the breach of contract, Most also calls out the production companies for fraud and deceit and demands full accounting of everything the movie has made and what he may be owed.
I’m not entirely sure on who’s right or wrong here, as there hasn’t been a response from any of those being sued, but I’ll eat crow if this case doesn’t also get settled out of court.
