The Crow Reboot Starting A Major Movie Universe?

By Douglas Helm | Updated

the crow reboot
The Crow (1994)

The long-delayed and highly anticipated The Crow reboot is finally coming in 2024, and now it seems that the film might even kick off a new franchise universe. In a recent interview, producer Sam Pressman said that the reboot is “going to blow people away,” and that there are plans to expand the IP out, possibly through “video games, an animated series or a universe (via Screen Rant).”

Pressman went on to say the reboot is kind of the “anti-Marvel” film, which will certainly excite people who are getting a bit of comic book movie fatigue.

This is the first outright reboot, so hopefully, the fresh take on the tale will resonate more with fans of the comics and the original film than the sequels did.

The Crow reboot will be an adaptation of James O’Barr’s comic book series of the same name, which followed the murdered musician Eric Draven as he seeks revenge against the gang who killed him and his fiancee after he’s resurrected by a mystical crow. The comic series was first adapted in the 1994 film that starred Brandon Lee as Draven. That film has become a major cult classic with a huge following, so the reboot certainly has some big shoes to fill.

There were various sequels to The Crow, but none of them managed to capture the special essence of the original. This is the first outright reboot, so hopefully, the fresh take on the tale will resonate more with fans of the comics and the original film than the sequels did. While a producer is obviously going to hype up the film they’re producing as much as possible, Pressman’s comments are still promising and show that this reboot might be heading in the right direction.

Brandon Lee in The Crow (1994)

As far as the lead role of Eric Draven goes, The Crow reboot landed on the perfect actor and cast Bill Skarsgard in the role.

The Crow reboot was first announced way back in 2008, so it’s had quite a long journey to finally make it to the big screen. A parade of directors, lead actors, and screenwriters have all been attached to the project at some point, which usually isn’t great news for the prospects of a film. However, usually these films end up in development limbo and never get made, but now this one actually has a solid release date.

Stephen Norrington, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, F. Javier Gutiérrez, and Corin Hardy are all directors that have been attached to The Crow reboot at some point and Nick Cave, Jesse Wigutow, and Cliff Dorfman have all been attached as screenwriters at some point.

The Crow has been a very central and integral part of our company and I’m really proud of the progress and the work that has been done. I think the movie is just going to blow people away. Our partners want to approach it in a very 360 way, whether it be video games, an animated series or a universe…”

Sam Pressman, producer of The Crow Reboot

Previous lead actor announcements have included Bradley Cooper, Luke Evans, Jack Huston, and Jason Momoa. Evtnually, the reboot would land on Rupert Sanders as the director with a script by Zach Baylin and Will Schneider.

As far as the lead role of Eric Draven goes, The Crow reboot landed on the perfect actor and cast Bill Skarsgard in the role. Meanwhile, musician FKA Twigs was cast as Draven’s murdered fiancee, Shelly.

Other roles will be played by Isabella Wei, Danny Huston, Laura Birn, Sami Bouajila, and Jordan Bolger. The film finished filming in 2022, so its 2024 release likely won’t be affected by the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.

The Crow reboot hasn’t set an official date for 2024, but we’ll likely find out soon. Hopefully, we’ll get a trailer soon to see what the film might look like. In the meantime, you can stream the original film on Paramoun+ and the Showtime channel through Hulu and Amazon Prime Video.