The first trailer for Lionsgate's The Crow reboot didn't exactly inspire confidence among fans of the beloved '90s adaptation starring the late Brandon Lee, but director Rupert Sanders is adamant that his movie is far from just another "Hollywood remake," despite its $50 million budget and backing of a major studio.
“There’s nothing to do with Hollywood in this movie at all,” the filmmaker tells Empire. "It’s a very scrappy indie movie.” Sanders went on to note that avoiding the usual blockbuster trappings is how they were “able to remain close to the centre and the darkness and the violence that’s in the graphic novel. The only reason we could do that is because it’s not a studio movie.”
That may well be the case, but this wasn't necessarily what fans were most concerned about upon seeing the first footage, with many taking issue with the fact that the movie appears to have ditched the Goth/grunge aesthetic of Alex Proyas' film in favor of... well, you've seen the trailer!
Check out a new look at Eric Draven (Bill Skarsgård) at the link below.
We can only be pleasantly surprised by The Crow at this stage, but a first reaction to the movie was recently shared online by Warrior writer Cliff Dorfman, who actually tagged the studio after catching an early screening. Dorfman clearly thought better of it and deleted the post shortly after, but not quickly enough!
"If hypothetically, one happened to see a screening of @TheCrow_Movie #thecrow which @Lionsgate is releasing in August, one might say, it’s horrible, it’s unwatchable, don’t waste your money, or can’t believe it’s so much worse than the original. It is. And don’t."
It might be worth noting that Dorfman penned the screenplay for an earlier version of The Crow that was going to be directed by F. Javier Gutierrez, so his opinion may not be completely unbiased. Even so, it's difficult to imagine too many fans being overly surprised by this verdict.
The synopsis reads: "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."
The movie will also star Danny Huston, Laura Birn, Sami Bouajila, and Jordan Bolger in undisclosed roles. Zach Baylin and Will Schneider penned the script.
The new take on The Crow will hit theaters on June 7, 2024.