Much to the surprise of, well, no one, The Crow isn't exactly eyeing a "caw-some" weekend at the North American box office. Lionsgate did its best to keep reviews under wraps until the remake was already playing, though moviegoers are smarter than that and decided against flocking to theaters yesterday evening.
With a dismal $650,000 from previews, it was handily beaten by Blink Twice, the new thriller directed by Zoe Kravitz and starring Channing Tatum (that earned a similarly so-so $820,000).
As things stand, The Crow will only fly as high as $6 million - $9 million at the domestic box office this weekend. With Blink Twice aiming for $7 million to $8 million (and playing in an additional 500 theaters), Rupert Sanders' reboot of the 1992 cult classic starring Brandon Lee will be fighting for fourth place.
Yes, fourth. With a reported $50 million budget, that could be a problem.
Blake Lively's It Ends With Us will remain at #3 with an impressive $10 million to $12 million during its third weekend in theaters. However, Alien: Romulus and Deadpool & Wolverine are going to compete for the top spot.
Alien: Romulus is on track to make $16 million to $19 million, while the latest Marvel Studios movie is eyeing a projected $16 million to $18 million!
"There was something about it – the supernatural crossing between worlds that really excited me," Sanders recently told The Wrap, admitting he decided not to revisit the original. "And this gothic love story at the heart of it. Those were the two things that really got me to sink my teeth into it."
The filmmaker says his aim was to make "an Edgar Allan Poe story for the 21st century."
As for how it compares to other recent superhero outings, Sanders added, "It sits up there with some of those bigger scale movies, because I think that we knew we had to compete on the commerciality but we also knew that we were going to be R-rated, and we were going to be a bit druggy and a bit violent and a bit out there and a bit emotional."
"And those things you don’t really find in the other [comic book films]. It has some of the spectacle, but a bit more of the emotion."
Bill Skarsgård takes on the iconic role of THE CROW in this modern reimagining of the original graphic novel by James O’Barr. Soulmates Eric (Skarsgård) and Shelly (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 Crow is directed by Rupert Sanders from a script by Zach Baylin and Will Schneider. Producers include Edward R. Pressman, Samuel Hadida, Victor Hadida, John Jencks, and Molly Hassell.
Bill Skarsgård plays Eric alongside FKA Twigs as Shelly, his ill-fated love. The supporting cast includes Danny Huston, Isabella Wei, Laura Birn, and Sami Bouajila.
The Crow is now playing in theaters.