They're remaking The Crow.
Yeah, I know. The stupidest thing I've heard all week. Hell, the stupidest thing I've heard in months.
Stephen Norrington has signed on to write and direct a reinvention of “The Crow,” based on the comic created by James O’Barr.
Ryan Kavanaugh’s Relativity Media is negotiating with producer Ed Pressman to acquire the film franchise and finance the film.
Pressman produced the 1994 Alex Proyas-directed screen transfer, in which rock musician Eric Draven is murdered trying to rescue his girlfriend from thugs, and returns from the dead one year later to exact vengeance. Though the original became a gothic-style hit that grossed nearly $100 million worldwide, it is primarily remembered for a tragic accident in which star Brandon Lee was killed during filming.
Ok, I've got no problem with people remaking films from the 50's or 60's, but there is absolutely no need to remake a film that originally came out in 1994. For god's sake, the film is only 14 years old. What possible new take can you have on the character of the film that necessitates it getting made so quickly after the original was made?
I'll give Stephen Norrington his fair due credit for making the original Blade. That film was the first really successful Marvel Comics film and is what paved the way for Spider-man and the X-men films getting film deals, which ultimately leads up to the glorious explosion of geeky comic book films we get to experience today. To a degree, he started it. The original Blade film was a rated R comic masterpiece that proved comics could be big box office players.
But let's not also forget that Norrington is also the man who brought us the amazing crapfest that was the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. A film so bad he hasn't even directed another film since. And now he want's to remake the Crow? Not even taking into consideration the tragic death of Brandon Lee during filming, The Crow was a trendsetting film that was a major force behind the goth scene becoming mainstream in the 90's. It was the first $100 million grossing picture I can think of that had a lead character wearing leather pants and doc martens and had a soundtrack that featured such dark industrial bands as Nine Inch Nails and My Life With the Thrill Kill Cult.
I think the store Chain Hot Topic is only a success today because of the popularity of The Crow and the generation of little goth and punk kids it inspired (amongst which I will admit I was a part of). And now, less than 15 years later there are plans to remake it. And the vision the new director wants to take the film? Well...just brace yourself.
Whereas Proyas’ original was gloriously gothic and stylized, the new movie will be realistic, hard-edged and mysterious, almost documentary-style,” Norrington told Daily Variety.
Oh dear god no. Somebody, please, stop this man. Where the hell is James O'Barr? Can't he do something to put a stop to this, or has he already blown through all the cash he made from the original film, it's two god awful sequels, and the TV show that was so horrendously awful that not a single person on this entire planet could force themselves to sit through even a single full episode?
(Via Hero Complex)
"Realistic, hard-edged and mysterious." Let's think of another, recent, successful movie that fits that description. Oh, that's right - Dark Knight. Remember, they're making Superman like the Dark Knight, why not The Crow? I see a bad trend in the making. Hollywood gets one good hit and then the viewing audience has to sit through rehashes of that singular hit formula for at least the next five years. You're right, re-making The Crow is a horrible idea.
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