Why did The Crow remake take so long to arrive?

In 1994, Alex Proyas directed gothic vigilante tale The Crow — a grungy adaptation of James O'Barr's comic book series about a rock musician brought back from the dead to avenge his own murder and that of his fiancée. The film achieved decent box office success and later became a cult classic, spawning a franchise of three, mostly unconnected sequels.

But none of those reasons are why The Crow is remembered. Sadly, the movie will always be connected to the tragic on-set death of its star, Brandon Lee. On 31 March, 1993, Lee was mortally wounded in an accident involving a prop gun. He was just 28 years old. The film was completed with the use of digital effects and Lee's stunt double — future John Wick director Chad Stahelski.

The idea of remaking The Crow has existed for a long time, with the film entering and exiting development hell on numerous occasions over the years. This week, it finally arrives on the big screen, with Bill Skarsgård stepping into the lead role previously played by Lee and Rupert Sanders in the director's chair. But why has it taken so long to get here?

Early plans

The first concrete rumblings about a remake of The Crow came in 2008 when Stephen Norrington, who directed Blade and the infamous film version of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, pitched a more realistic take on the original comic than Proyas's gothic tale.

Norrington was attached to the project for several years, with Mark Wahlberg mooted as a possible contender for the lead role. Musician Nick Cave even took a whirl at the script. But by 2011, Norrington had stepped away. He still hasn't made a movie since The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen became an extraordinary disaster.

Read more: The Crow remake blasted by original director: 'It is Brandon Lee's legacy' (BANG Showbiz)

Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, who made 28 Weeks Later and the recent Netflix movie Damsel, was the next to step up as a potential director for The Crow. During this time, a revolving door of Hollywood big names were linked with the role of Eric, including Bradley Cooper, Channing Tatum, Ryan Gosling, James McAvoy, and Wahlberg again.

F. Javier Gutiérrez, whose most famous directorial credit these days is the dismal 2017 movie Rings, replaced Fresnadillo in 2012. He wanted to create a page-by-page take on the comic, but this version of the story proved a tough nut to crack.

Tom Hiddleston, hot on the heels of his success as Loki in the MCU, joined the casting rumour roulette wheel at this stage, as well as Alexander Skarsgård — older brother of Bill. The roulette wheel did eventually stop, though, with Luke Evans officially revealing that he was going to play Eric.

The movie appeared to get closer to reality at this time, with Evans on board and comic author O'Barr stepping in as a creative consultant. But when Gutiérrez agreed to direct Rings, he also left the role of The Crow director. The chair was vacant yet again.

Corin Hardy comes close

In December 2014, it looked like The Crow was going to happen. Horror specialist Corin Hardy — an avowed fan of the original — signed on to direct, while O'Barr was on scripting duties. Evans was still in place as the star. Everything looked like it was finally going to progress, right up until Evans dropped out in frustration at waiting so long and wanting to move on to other opportunities.

Read more: The Nun director Corin Hardy admits his actor was 'terrified' during the buried alive scene (Yahoo Entertainment)

Hardy, though, was all set to get the movie in front of cameras in 2015. Jack Huston emerged as the latest frontrunner to play Eric, ahead of Jack O'Connell and Nicholas Hoult. In the summer of 2015, though, studio backers Relativity Media filed for bankruptcy and The Crow stalled yet again.

This wasn't the end of Hardy's involvement, though. The movie emerged yet again in 2016, with Jason Momoa cemented as Hardy's new leading man, Sony Pictures set to distribute, and a new title: The Crow Reborn. By 2018, it had even been dated for a release the following year. Nothing could stop it now, right? Well, in May 2018, Hardy and Momoa both said goodbye to The Crow for good due to creative differences.

In an Instagram post, Hardy mourned that he came "so close" to making it work. "I poured everything I had into the last 3.5 years of work, to try & create something which honoured what the Crow stood for," he said. "Yesterday, deciding it was time to let go of this dark & emotional dream project, was the hardest decision of all."

Read more: Rupert Sanders Says The Crow Remake Is a ‘Scrappy Indie Movie’ and Has ‘Nothing to Do with Hollywood’ (IndieWire)

Hardy and Momoa had come closer than anyone to making The Crow happen, but the complex legacy of the original and the difficulties of getting such a dark story to the big screen simply proved too much. If even a devoted fan couldn't get The Crow back to the multiplex, it seemed as if nobody could.

But then Rupert Sanders and the man behind cinema's most terrifying clown showed up.

The Crow flies again

The Crow rose again in 2022, with Ghost in the Shell director Rupert Sanders becoming the latest hire behind the camera and Bill Skarsgård — who had terrified audiences as Pennywise in Andy Muschietti's two-part adaptation of It — taking on the role his brother was once linked to playing. FKA Twigs also joined as Eric's ill-fated fiancée Shelly.

Unlike previous incarnations, this version of the film moved quickly. Cameras started rolling in July 2022 and, by September, Sanders was able to call it a wrap. The movie is now hitting cinemas in a prime slot as part of Hollywood's summer of sequels.

Though, in keeping with the history of The Crow remake, not everyone's happy. Skarsgård says the ending was tweaked during post-production, perhaps to make a sequel more likely, and he told Esquire he "personally preferred something more definitive".

Well if everything was rosy, it just wouldn't be The Crow.

The Crow is in UK cinemas now